Crowds of protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy on Friday to express their “rage over the Israeli government’s belligerence.”
The protest comes as a response to the killing of an Egyptian security officer and two soldiers during a raid by Israeli forces on armed militants along the Egypt-Israel border on Thursday. The deathtoll rose on Friday afternoon, following the deaths of two Egyptian officers wounded during the conflict.
For many of those, present, however, this incident is only the latest in a series of “unacceptable offenses routinely carried out by Israel…against the region.”
An initial crowd of dozens assembled outside the embassy shortly after noon prayers, quickly increasing in number within a couple of hours.
“There are still plenty more on their way,” said 19-year-old Hassan Mahmoud, barely audible over the chants of hundreds. “It’s a little quiet now, but that’s because the majority of people will show up after Iftar.”
The hours leading up to Iftar, however, were by no means “quiet.”
Men, women, and children crowded on the sidewalks of the bridge directly across from the Israeli embassy, many carrying flags, banners, and megaphones. Members of two youth-led movements, Ana Masry (I am Egyptian) and el-Wihda (Unity), arrived with a long banner reading “There is no god but God,” which they encouraged protesters to huddle under.
“We don’t want their embassy here anymore, we don’t want their ambassador in our country, and we don’t want to see that,” said Hisham Ahmed Abbas, a 17-year-old protester, pointing to the Israeli flag hanging from the roof of the building housing the embassy. “We are tired of the unacceptable offenses routinely carried out by Israel against Egypt and the rest of the region, and we want them gone.”
“What is it that they [the Israeli government] are holding against us? How can they still be controlling us?” one woman called out to the crowd. “Mubarak is gone, so why is this injustice still tolerated?”
The protest was largely organized via Facebook. The social networking site now seems to be doubling as an army recruitment center, with online groups existing solely to encourage individuals to sign up as “volunteers” for an attack on Israel—a development echoed by the crowd’s chant: “Give us weapons, give us ammo, send us to Jerusalem.”
The protest did not seem to attract any attention from Central Security Forces or military police. During a protest at the Israeli embassy in May, hundreds of protesters were injured in clashes with security forces. Others were arrested. Many of those arrested were sent to military trials.
Many protesters viewed Thursday’s violence along the border as an alarming indicator of Israel’s plans to dominate the region.
“The Israeli government is intimidating and provoking the Egyptian government because it knows how vulnerable [Egypt] is right now,” an older protester preached to a smaller side-crowd. “They are taking advantage of the regional instability in an attempt to redefine their borders, and incorporate Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, Syria, Golan Heights, Kuwait, and Iraq into their territory.”
“We don’t want to go to war,” he continued, “but it is inevitable that we will. It is time to rid the region of this cancer called Israel.”
Not everyone directed their anger towards Israel. As the crowd grew and spilled over the sidewalk and into the street, motorists began to lash out at the protesters. “We have enough problems of our own to fix, now isn’t the time for this,” one man shouted out his window as he attempted to navigate his way through the human traffic. Other drivers argued the same point, most waiting until they were clear of the crowd before shouting their opinion and speeding away.
