Brotherhood’s Consequential Damage

Islamist Gate, by Azza Radwan Sedky

A screenshot of Al Jazeera host Alaa Sadek's Arabic tweet which incites violence against Egyptian police officers.

On February 18, Reuters published a tweet allegedly sent out by Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, the Islamist militant group terrorizing Sinai. It warned tourists to leave Egypt by February 20^th.

The tweet was posted shortly after the bomb attack on a tourist bus in Southern Sinai that killed three South Koreans and one Egyptian. "We recommend tourists to get out safely before the expiry of the deadline," read the tweet, written in English.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which is Arabic for the supporters of Jerusalem, has repeatedly said that it doesn’t have a Twitter Account and does not post on social media sites, especially in English; however, according to Reuters, “[Bayt Al-Maqdis’s] Statements that appeared on the Twitter account in the past have afterwards surfaced on jihadist websites which the group says it does use.”

It seems Reuters went ahead and reposted the tweet without serious validation and without considering the consequences on tourism, tourists, and Egypt as a whole. Soon afterwards a rights group in Egypt filed a complaint against Reuters accusing it of "propagandizing for a terrorist group."

But consequences don’t construe much for the media. The complaint and accusations were taken with a grain of salt, for since when were media concerned with ramifications?

But can media, social or otherwise, effect consequential damage? Can the pursuance of faulty or discredited information trigger harmful results? The response is a clear affirmation.

Some media outlets go farther: they can incite terrorism and ignite destructive reactions.

Al Jazeera, known for its allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood, from the first moments of the January 25 Revolution touted a hidden agenda. As local Egyptian media staggered, Al Jazeera, then deemed trustworthy by Egyptians, intentionally steered Egyptians towards revolt, its anchormen on an inciting rampage.

The examples are many, but a recent provocation by Ahmed Mansour, Al Jazeera presenter and avid supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, pursues the same line of tactics.

On the Ikhwan Online Account, Mansour applauds the killings of officers and promotes the same for members of the local media, too.

“Considering the media an accomplice in today’s events is fair, and killing these members is not a terrorist act but a heroic one.” the post, which I guarantee existed, has since been removed.

The murder of intelligence officer Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Eid Abdel Salam of Zagazig, Sharqiya, is another case in point. His murder is an act that was deliberately called for by various media sources.

Abdel Salam’s name, and home and cell phone numbers, is amongst a list of 400 officers that has been circulated on various Muslim Brotherhood media outlets, in addition to the online version of Gareedit El Shaab.

Alaa Sadek, another Al Jazeera host and a Muslim Brotherhood supporter, has 277,000 followers on his Facebook page. His tweets link readers to his page; here are a few examples of how damaging his tweets can be.

“Any officer who killed a civilian deserves an immediate death. The names and faces of these officers are known, and their addresses are known, too. Retribution must follow. It is time revolutionists seek revenge against these criminals.”

“El Sisi’s best accomplishments: Upped the number of orphan children to more than a million; upped the number of widowed wives to more than a million; upped the number of mothers and fathers who lost children to two million; upped the number of families that has a dead, injured, or detained member to millions.”

‪Though the figures he cites are bizarre, hundreds of people liked and shared his status.

“The gas shortage is definitely noticeable and here is the proof: a whole day has passed without the burning of a police, officer’s, or media car,” read another post.

Then the ongoing violent rhetoric on Ikhwan Online and other Jihadi websites and Twitter accounts need not be authenticated with examples. No one can deny media are rarely objective but are usually affiliated to one or another cause. If they can sway followers, they can also incite terror, instill boldness, and create a retaliatory disposition in followers, too.

This brings the discourse to the detained and recently charged journalists in Egypt. Several Al Jazeerajournalists amongst other journalists are accused of spreading “false news” and having links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt declared a terrorist organization in December.

In no way am I defending detaining innocent journalists. Quite the contrary, every case must be carefully scrutinized to reveal to Egyptians and the world whether the journalists indicted are truly inciting terrorism or not. If not, they must be freed immediately. However, I’m also saying that media can and do incite.

To oppose a regime should not be faulted; to ask for the murder of those you oppose is a gruesome condemnation that avid Muslim Brotherhood media outlets have promoted but that Egyptians have finally realized.