President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received yesterday Masad Boulos, Senior Advisor to the U.S. President for Arab, Middle Eastern, and African Affairs. The meeting was attended by Badr Abdel Atty, Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Expatriates Affairs; Hassan Rachad, Director of the General Intelligence Service; as well as, from the American side, Ambassador Herro Mustafa, U.S. Ambassador to Cairo, and Joshua Harris, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for North African Affairs.
What struck me most about Masad Boulos's visit was his total omission of the Gaza file not a single word. Upon arriving in Cairo, he wrote on his official account on X (formerly Twitter):
"I've arrived in Cairo to meet with President El-Sisi, Foreign Minister Abdel Atty, Intelligence Director Rachad, and other officials. I look forward to exchanging views on our shared interests in a stable and prosperous Africa." End of quote.
Following his meeting with the Egyptian president, he posted:
"Had an excellent discussion with President El-Sisi. I was very pleased to hear his perspective on the critical challenges and opportunities in Africa. We reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Egypt partnership, which includes promoting peace, security, and regional stability." End of tweet.
And finally, after his meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, he wrote:
"Just concluded a highly productive meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdel Atty. Among the topics we discussed was the need to end the recent violence in Libya. We also agreed on the importance of ending the conflict in Sudan." End of quote.
So where is the most pressing file Gaza in his statements? Where is even a passing, protocol-level mention?
The only reference to Gaza came from the Egyptian side, as Ambassador Mohamed El-Shenawy, Presidential Spokesperson, stated in a post on the official presidential website and social media accounts that the meeting addressed recent developments in the Middle East and ways to restore regional stability. President El-Sisi emphasized the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the facilitation of humanitarian aid, highlighting the importance of continued tripartite coordination between Egypt, the United States, and Qatar. Masad Boulos, for his part, affirmed his country's commitment to ongoing joint efforts with Egypt to restore regional calm. The two sides also discussed the situations in Libya, Lebanon, Sudan, and Yemen, in addition to the Horn of Africa and the Sahel region underscoring the importance of maintaining stability and strengthening the role of governments and state institutions in serving the interests of the peoples of these nations.
This concludes the text of El-Shenawy's statement.
Masad Boulos's visit also included a tour of the Grand Egyptian Museum a diplomatic gesture indicating American interest in the cultural dimension.
The visit came just one day after El-Sisi's speech at the 34th Arab Summit, hosted by Baghdad on May 17 a summit marked by the lowest level of leadership representation in the history of Arab summits, reflecting the fragility and fragmented priorities of the Arab position. Nevertheless, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi chose to attend, seizing the Arab platform to deliver a sharply worded message to Israel. His ten-minute speech was mostly a harsh attack on Israel, delivered in language that seemed lifted from Al Jazeera anchors without a single condemnation or even mention of the terrorist massacre carried out by the Hamas militia on October 7, 2023.
How can one call for comprehensive peace without addressing one of the primary sources of instability namely, the terrorist organization Hamas?
El-Sisi even went as far as to imply looming regional instability, stating: "Even if Israel succeeds in concluding normalization agreements with all Arab states, peace will not be achieved in the Middle East," invoking the Palestinian issue as if Hamas did not exist, as if Israel had launched aggression without cause, and as if the blood of those slaughtered on October 7 had never been spilled.
It is increasingly evident that Egypt's authoritarian regime has no interest in seeing the end of Hamas. On the contrary, it appears to be actively invested in keeping the group relevant, as long as it remains a useful regional bargaining chip securing Egypt both international visibility and financial rewards, as I have argued in earlier writings..
President Sisi's speech at the Arab League summit was met with popular enthusiasm, both domestically and among Egyptians abroad. Even exiled opposition voices, typically critical of the regime, seemed to celebrate it
mistaking it for a potential shift in Cairo's long-standing posture on the Palestinian issue. One prominent dissident living overseas, despite facing unjust prison sentences, wrote: "Though I despise Sisi and blame him for the siege, his speech on Palestine was dignified. Egypt is saying no, and the rest are just slaves" a scathing jab at other Arab states.
This paradox reflects a broader popular sentiment in Egypt: any speech filled with bold "No's" tends to be embraced, even when delivered by Sisi, arguably the least popular Egyptian president since the 1952 coup save perhaps for the short-lived Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
To further contextualize Egypt's current political choreography, consider what happened just two days before the summit: a protest took place outside the Journalists' Syndicate in Cairo under the slogan, "The Nakba continues, and so does the resistance." The demonstration was clearly orchestrated with the consent and coordination of the security services. In my country, Egypt, even butterflies in public parks flutter only after receiving clearance from the intelligence apparatus.
"During the protest, demonstrators chanted slogans accusing Saudi Arabia and the UAE of conspiring with Israel to annihilate the Palestinian people ironically, the very two countries that have been among Egypt's most generous financial backers since 2013."
All of this underscores how the regime's long-term investment in fueling hatred toward Israel through relentless state-sponsored propaganda has yielded unintended but politically expedient results.
Conclusion:
Washington is clearly displeased with the tone struck by Cairo during the Baghdad summit. The U.S. does not want to see Egypt adopt the inflammatory rhetoric of Al Jazeera and push the region down a perilous path. That's precisely why it dispatched Masad Boulos to Cairo: to recalibrate Egypt's message before it drifts further off course. The question remains will Boulos succeed in resetting Egypt's tone in the days ahead? Or will the regime continue down its current trajectory, one that history has shown leads only to national ruin, human suffering, and the disintegration of statehood?
Mohamed Saad Khiralla is a political analyst specializing in Middle Eastern affairs and Islamist movements, an opinion writer and member of PEN Sweden.
