Saudi writer accuses MB, Qatar of destabilizing Egypt

CAIRO – 10 January 2018: Saudi writer and journalist Abdulrahman al-Rashed wrote an article in Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Tuesday, in which he accused the Muslim Brotherhood and Doha’s regime of destabilizing the Egyptian community intentionally through spreading rumors and lies.

The former general manager of Al-Arabiya television channel and former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper stated in his article titled “The story of an intelligence officer’s recordings” that the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group has been cooperating with their Qatari allies for more than two years to destabilize the Egyptian community intentionally, using the Palestinian cause as an excuse; however, in reality, “they don’t really care.”

Rashed was basically talking about the article published in the New York Times by David D. Kirkpatrick titled “Tapes Reveal Egyptian Leaders’ Tacit Acceptance of Jerusalem Move” on December 5, in which he highlighted leaked records of a so-called intelligence officer named Ashraf El Kholy talking with four “influential TV hosts” in phone calls to tell them the real approach of the state regarding Jerusalem. It was claimed that Kholy wanted those celebrities to promote the U.S. plan, “which neither Egypt nor another country could stop.”

The veteran Saudi writer affirmed that this method seems like a typical Qatari approach of fabricating lies and promoting them.

“Qatar has a history full of lies and pretending,” Rashed stated. He added that Doha has been always using reporters and media outlets to spread false information. “Formally, they used to criticize Americans for their policies; meanwhile, they allowed them to use their air force bases to target al-Qaeda locations based in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Rashed explained in his article.

Finally, he said that New York Times has promoted, as usual, the Qatari thoughts and messages in its articles. “However, if they mentioned or noted that their sources are Qatari, no other explanations would be needed,” Rashed concluded.

On January 9, Egypt’s Attorney General Nabil Sadeq ordered investigations into the story of New York Times. He said in statement that the article published by the U.S. newspaper would compromise security and public peace, and harm the public interest in Egypt.

Over the past days, the article by David D. Kirkpatrick has triggered public anger against the U.S. newspaper, with many criticizing the paper’s unprofessional, inaccurate reporting on this issue.

The SIS released a statement commenting on the article, saying it was fabricated. SIS also discussed the ethical side of relying on leaked recordings, asserting that Egypt’s stance should only be taken from public officials, statements, the Foreign Ministry and the president.