More Egyptian Leaks - Jerusalem.

[Hafiz]

The New York Times says it has a leaked tape of an Egyptian Security Service officer contacting some Egyptian media types and telling them to go soft on the US Jerusalem decision. The objective is that Egypt doesn’t want the street taking a strong Palestinian/anti-US response.

The Times is unclear where the tape came from but states that it has tested the voices of the media identities and found them accurate.

Its another example of leaking in the senior levels of the state/Security Service.

The media identities state in the recording that they will say whatever the Security Service tells them to say.

Of course its all lies because Al Ahram and the government of Egypt utterly deny the story. They argue that three of the persons allegedly contacted deny the matter utterly. (Al Ahram does not mention that the tapes contain voices which have been tested and found accurate and gives no hard evidence for rejecting the tape.) http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent ... Egypt.aspx. The central issue is whether science says the tape is correct - al Ahram ignores this. Al Ahram also does not mention that one of those contacted by the Security Services has willingly admitted all to the Times as follows:

“one host, Azmi Megahed, who confirmed the authenticity of the recording.

……Mr. Megahed, in an interview (with the Times), said that he had agreed with Captain Kholi based on his personal assessment of the need to avoid a fresh outbreak of violence, not on the orders of the intelligence service.

“I am friends with Ashraf and we talk all the time,” Mr. Megahed said. “Another intifada would be bad. I have no problem saying all of the things you have heard in that call in public.”

The Times when it was trying to confirm the story got strong negative responses from the other manipulated media identities: “One of them, Mofid Fawzy, quickly denied taking part in any such conversation and immediately hung up the phone.The other manipulated host, Saeed Hassaseen, who is also a member of Parliament, stopped returning phone messages and backed out of plans for an interview after a journalist contacted Mr. Megahed and Mr. Fawzy about the calls.

The recordings held by the NYT all appear to match public recordings of their actual real voices, and Captain Kholi’s talking points in each of the calls follow the same lines as his conversation with Mr. Megahed.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/worl ... ref=topics

I’ll leave it to you on who to believe. Its interesting that this is about the 6th tape of information embarrassing to the government leaked by an insider to the media and previous tapes have been about people much higher up talking about what to do with the ‘goodies’. Some have suggested that the leaks are evidence of deep division in the army/government/security service.

The Government of Egypt has now launched a criminal investigation into the NYT on the basis that its story undermines national security. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/10/worl ... salem.html

There are also unhinged Egyptian MP’s saying the story is part of an international conspiracy/war against Egypt. I wonder who are the specific conspirators and the evidence for such. (another illustration of the need for distribution of free anti-psychotic medications in the Parliament)

Maybe Egypt will do the same with the Times of London and the scores of other Western media that print negative stories (and no positive ones) about Egypt. Shouldn’t every story against Egypt lead to prison? Should any journalist not be in jail? There are 50,000 (minimum) others in jail for political reasons – why not more?

We can rely on the Egyptian police, prosecutors and courts to do their work – and they are the ‘best in the world’.

If the NYT Egypt story is true it shows that the media is an orifice of the state and the legal system the detritus. It also shows there is leaking dissent within the regime.

Not even Mubarak would have prosecuted the NYT – which tells you how far Egypt itself has gone in the last seven years.

The Times article is written by David D Kirkpatrick who was based in Cairo for a few years and whilst now in London and covering broader issues is regarded as one of the best western journalists on the region.

He also breaks a new and related story, which shows how little support the Palestinians have in other areas:

“Days before Mr. Trump’s announcement, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, privately urged the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to accept a radically curtailed vision of statehood without a capital in East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian, Arab and European officials who have heard Mr. Abbas’s version of events.”

Wonder where he got that particular leak from.

Confirms my view that the Palestinians have disloyal supporters in the region - or worse.

[newcastle]

There are some odd aspects to the NYT story. Why would 66 year old singer/actress Yousra be a recipient of one of the calls from captain Kholi? And faking voice calls is not rocket science nowadays. Certainly not beyond possibility if the tapes originated in , say, Qatar.

On balance, however, I'd be inclined to take them as genuine. Nor am I in the least surprised.

The regime controls the TV chat shows as vigorously as it does the press. The government line on the Jerusalem issue is made clear in the official statements and to say it was muted is putting it mildly. The street view is quite different and it's easy to see why the government would not want the temperature raised.

The regime had similar concerns over the Tiran islands fracas and reacted in the same way, making it known that press and media comment was "unwelcome".

Blanket denials is the standard response to inconvenient revelations. It no longer embarrasses them...if it ever did.

If the Palestinians haven't learnt by now that they have no genuinely committed friends, then they've really got no idea of the geopolitical situation.

They can continue beating their heads against a brick wall, while the population (particularly in Gaza) suffers abominably and another generation is wasted.

Or they can capitulate and settle for what Israel deigns to give them.

I expect they'll choose the former. Pragmatism is not in their dictionary. Martyrdom is.

[Major Thom]

All these leaks and they boast to have good Plumbers, have they turned the gas on to places in Luxor yet?