Sisi: No Reconciliation with those Trying to Harm Egypt

President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)
President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)
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Sisi: No Reconciliation with those Trying to Harm Egypt

President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)
President Sisi speaks during the event on Sunday. (Egyptian Presidency)

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said Sunday that his country “will not be defeated by a war from the outside,” while also underlining his rejection of “reconciling” with the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo has blacklisted as a terrorist group.

“I cannot reconcile with those who want to destroy the country and harm its people,” he declared during an armed forces cultural event marking Egypt’s victory in the October 6, 1976 war.

“You are welcome to argue with me, but when it comes to killing and destroying the lives of 100 million Egyptian people, then how can I reconcile with you?” he asked while indirectly referring to the Muslim Brotherhood.

He dismissed all calls for reconciliation with the group, which the authorities banned as terrorist in 2013.

Sisi said that Egypt was witnessing a threat to its “state stability”, vowing that he will protect it.

“Direct wars used to be adopted in the past to destroy, defeat and obstruct the progress of a state. Now, new generations of wars are dealing with our challenges and issues and exploiting them before the public, who can be used as a tool for destruction,” he warned.

“Egypt cannot be destroyed by war from the outside,” he remarked.



Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
TT

Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave "very serious and shameful.”

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.

"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians," the text said, according to Reuters.
"We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."

The pope, 88, was present for the address but asked an aide to read it for him as he is recovering from a cold.

The comments were part of an address to Vatican-accredited envoys from some 184 countries that is sometimes called the pope's 'state of the world' speech. The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See was among those present for the event.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts.
But he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and has suggested
the global community should study whether the offensive constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
An Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff in December for that suggestion.

The pope's text said he condemns anti-Semitism, and called the growth of anti-Semitic groups "a source of deep concern."
Francis also called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has killed tens of thousands.