On Monday, Cairo International Airport officials started to enforce a new policy, requiring that Syrian nationals obtain a visa before entering Cairo. They then refused to allow a Syrian Airlines flight to land, and asked them to fly back to Latakia. Egypt Independent reporter Al-Masry Al-Youm stated in his article that, “Syrian Airlines flight number 203, flying from Latakia with 95 passengers, had arrived in Cairo without foreknowledge of the new procedures. Fifty-five other Syrians arriving on a Middle East Airlines flight from Beirut, and 39 others arriving on other airlines, were also denied entry into Egypt.” These flights were forced to return to where they came from.
Egyptian authorities have also deported several Palestinians. According to Palestinian writer Yousef M. Aljamal’s tweet (who was also deported from the Cairo International Airport), “All Palestinians who arrived yesterday were sent back to the countries they came from.” While Electronic Intifada has touched on the issue of the deported Palestinians, no one else has seemed to touch on the issue. Why isn’t the “Pro-Palestinian” movement up in arms? Groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and other organizations who claim to be on the side of the Palestinians have yet to criticize Egypt.
This lack of action leaves one to question what would have happened had Israel done the same thing. Would that get these groups to protest for the people for whom they claim to advocate? The issue is that, unfortunately, these groups are blinded by their distaste for Israel, and are not able to see what is happening to Palestinians in other parts of the Middle East.
Contributed by CAMERA Intern Rachel Wolf