WASHINGTON – The Biden administration will withhold $130 million worth of military aid to Egypt until Cairo takes specific steps related to human rights, a State Department spokesperson has announced.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s move is a break with his predecessors’ policy of overriding a congressional check on military aid to Egypt. In the past, an exception was granted to free up Foreign Military Financing for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, worth $300m. this fiscal year, on the basis that it was in the interest of US national security.
The State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “We are continuing to discuss our serious concerns about human rights in Egypt.”
The US has provided around $1.3 billion in foreign assistance to Egypt annually since the 2017 fiscal year, according to a congressional research report.
Sisi, who ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, has overseen a crackdown on dissent that has tightened in recent years. Rights groups say tens of thousands have been detained, including Brotherhood leaders and secular activists.
Dan Kurtzer, who has served as US ambassador to Egypt and Israel, told The Jerusalem Post that aid to Egypt continues to serve US national security interests.
“It is particularly important today to reassure our allies and friends of the constancy of our relationships,” he said. “Continuing that assistance can accompany a robust dialogue with the Egyptians on human rights and basic freedoms.”
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Florida), who serves as chairman for the Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa and Global Counterterrorism on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Post, “The administration’s decision to withhold some percentage [of aid], while recognizing the ongoing conversations with Egypt on the issue of human rights is an important step.”
Speaking at the sidelines of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute, Rep. Deutch added that the administration “also made clear that Egypt has been an important ally, but especially we saw that firsthand in May, the role that it played in helping to bring an end to the conflict.
“So I think we recognize the important relationship that we have with Egypt. And this is a part of that conversation between important allies and friends,” he said.
David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, said that no doubt in the aftermath of the last Gaza operation, “it certainly once again reminded Washington of the importance of Egypt.”
Schenker previously served as assistant secretary of state for near Near Eastern affairs from 2019 through January 2021 during the Trump administration.
“[Egypt is] certainly not the regional player they were, but they remain a significant and important actor when it comes to Gaza,” Schenker continued.”
“Every year, by law, it is on the State Department to either withhold $300 million or certify that Egypt is improving its human rights,” he said. “And certainly in the past, that certification could not be made, and obviously, it cannot be made now. Typically, administrations provide waivers, but Biden has stated, and Secretary Blinken stated during a first phone call with [Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh] Shoukry that human rights would be central in the policy toward Egypt, and that human rights would be central to the policy, period.
“I think they felt like it was necessary to do something on Egypt to reflect their stated regard or concern about human rights,” said Schenker. “This was actually an attempt to split the bait, to not withhold the full 300 million, but to withhold something. The result is that within Congress, particularly among a certain component of the Democratic Party, it satisfies no one.”
“The purpose, I think, in withholding money has been to try and encourage better behavior,” he said. “But this conditionality doesn’t work with Egypt.”
Why?
“Because Egypt views the Muslim Brotherhood as an existential issue, central to its national security, and [an] internal matter. And it is willing to forego US assistance to continue its policies.”
“Conditionality has been tried before, and I only remember one particular occasion in which it worked, which was during [former Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak’s tenure when Saad Eddin Ibrahim was arrested in jail and he was a dual national,” said Schenker. “The Bush administration threatened to withhold $180 million of foreign assistance, and Mubarak said, I will not succumb to pressure, and three weeks later, Saad Eddin was released from jail. But this is a different situation.”
Michele Dunne is the director and a senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where her research focuses on political and economic change in Arab countries, particularly Egypt, as well as US policy in the Middle East.
“I think the $130 million in aid that has been withheld can still be released if Egypt meets the conditions,” she told the Post. “The administration won’t say what they are exactly but they appear to involve letting up pressure on human rights defenders and releasing some political activists from prison,” she said in reference to media reports about the Biden administration’s decision.
“It’s important to recognize what an anomaly the US relationship with Egypt has become. There is not another government carrying out such serious and widespread abuses that at the same time is a major recipient of US security assistance. The contradiction has become increasingly hard to ignore.
“Regarding [Egypt’s role as a mediator in] Gaza, I believe the administration sees that Egypt does what it does there to serve its own interests – not as a favor to the US – and therefore no payment is due,” she said.
Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said he believed this is a political decision, “and one that may come back to haunt the administration.”
“Egypt played a pivotal role in ending the Gaza war in May, and it continues to play a key role in brokering calm there,” he said. “This matters little to the hard Left flank of Biden’s party, which seeks to exact retribution for the Sisi regime’s draconian policies that overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood.
“It’s unclear to me what Cairo can do to change this equation under the current leadership. Sisi is not likely going anywhere soon. The concern here is that Egypt, in response, could begin to eschew some of its policies of promoting stability that have benefited the entire region,” said Schanzer.
Reuters contributed to this report.