Veteran journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal has offered three pieces of advice to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regarding the current challenges facing Egypt.
In an interview aired on the privately-owned TV channel CBC on Friday, Heikal offered advice warning against Egypt's involvement in the Yemen war without proper preparation. “We should not seek war. We should check first to see to what extent we are ready for the war.”
“We have experience in Yemen that no one has studied. We have experience that we got rid of without studying it,” Heikal added.
The journalist explained that Egypt should acknowledge what Saudi Arabia wants and see if it is ready for the consequences. He described Yemen as a ‘dormant volcano’ in the south of the Arabian Peninsula that will sweep away all of the region if it erupts.
Regarding the situation in Libya, Heikal suggested the following international arrangements in case new aerial strikes are planned there, adding “I wish Egypt had notified the UN Security Council before making the first strike.”
“With regards to the first strike, we should have notified the council, then taken whatever action we wanted. We do not seek the Security Council’s permission. In international politics, you can act without surprising me or getting my permission. Notify me while acting. Some times we were notified about issues minutes before it happened. When using the military force outside your borders, you require international arrangements,” Heikal said.
“The only country that has the right to act without informing anyone is the US. We are not the US,” he added.
Heikal also advised on the necessity of changing the way it has been handling the issue in Gaza.
“What I care about now are the sentiments in Gaza towards Egypt. There is blockade there. A court in Egypt handed down a verdict labelling Hamas as a terrorist group. I’m not a fan of Hamas. But in this moment, Gaza is like a bomb that if exploded, will affect Egypt. There are about 12-15 million Palestinians who will attack us if they get angry. By then, we will be unable to confront or shoot,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
