Egypt Accuses Brotherhood of Exploiting COVID-19 to Distort State’s Image

 Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood protesting in Cairo, Egypt on 11 November 2016 [Apaimages]
Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood protesting in Cairo, Egypt on 11 November 2016 [Apaimages]
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Egypt Accuses Brotherhood of Exploiting COVID-19 to Distort State’s Image

 Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood protesting in Cairo, Egypt on 11 November 2016 [Apaimages]
Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood protesting in Cairo, Egypt on 11 November 2016 [Apaimages]

Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members are spreading rumors on social media to question the integrity of measures taken by the Egyptian government to contain the COVID-19, security experts and researchers in fundamentalist movements told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday.

“The Brotherhood is trying to exploit the government’s preoccupation with fighting the virus to achieve political targets by stirring confusion and discord among Egyptians,” said former Assistant to the Minister of Interior Farouk al-Makrahy.

Meanwhile, a security source accused a pro-MB television channel of airing a video from last year, showing Christian celebrations and accusing the State of not taken legal measures against them similar to the procedures taken against the violations of some mosque preachers.

Few days before this video, Egypt’s Interior Ministry accused the MB of “instigating the prevention of burial of a female doctor who died of coronavirus” in Egypt’s north-eastern governorate, Dakahlia.

The ministry described people who had participated in the incident as “outlaws,” and it accused them of “responding to rumors and incitement made by the Brotherhood group under the pretext of preventing the spread of the virus.”

Khaled Zaakarani, a researcher in fundamentalist movements, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The Brotherhood is working to provoke panic among residents by questioning the government’s efforts to contain the virus.”

He said MB members were spreading false news on social media concerning the number of COVID-19 infected people in the country.

Lately, Bahgat Saber, a New York-based Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood activist, said in a video he uploaded to his Facebook page that any Egyptian who has flu-like symptoms or coronavirus should deliberately go to Egyptian police stations, public prosecution offices, courthouses, embassies, and consulates and shake hands with government officials as a revenge against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government.

“Rumors and videos spread by the Muslim Brotherhood would never find an echo among Egyptians,” stressed Makrahy.



Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank

A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
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Israeli Soldiers Kill Palestinian Man in West Bank

A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)
A picture taken in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah city shows the nearby Israeli Shilo settlement in the background, in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar ASHTIYEH / AFP)

Palestinian authorities said Israeli troops killed a 55-year-old man in the north of the occupied West Bank on Thursday -- an incident the Israeli army said involved a stabbing attack.

The Ramallah-based health ministry said the body in charge of coordination with Israel informed it that soldiers "shot and killed" the man in Rummanah, near Jenin, in the morning.

The Israeli military said separately that troops deployed in the village "neutralised" a man after he stabbed and "moderately injured" a soldier, AFP reported.

The army generally uses the term "neutralised" after killing someone.

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 2023.

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy died Thursday of wounds suffered during an army raid near the West Bank town of Nablus last week, the health ministry said.

Since October 7, 2023, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 951 Palestinians, including many militants, the ministry said.

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Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to Israeli figures.