By Walid Shoebat

It looks like Turkey with its Muslim Brotherhood which camped in Istanbul has there eye on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and are trying to do anything to destroy his relationship with other Arab nations in the region.

So the Muslim Brotherhood had tapped his phone and aired the recordings today (Saturday night) on the Turkish-based Egyptian satellite TV channel Mekameleen where all leaked recording of al-Sisis are aired.

The TV station in Turkey is known for its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first freely-elected president, who was overthrown by the army on 3 July, 2013, following mass protests.

TV channel Mekameleen shows the four finger salute which is favored by Turkish Erdogan and the Muslim Brotherhood

Al-Sisi as it seems made fun of the Arab Gulf rulers (who doesn’t) and so the Arabs are upset since despite their substantial financial aid to Egypt, and in contrast to his public statements of lavish praise towards the oil-rich states, these leaked audio recordings made fun of them.

The leaks, which cannot be independently verified, were reportedly recorded early 2014. The voices in the recordings were reportedly of Sisi, who was then defence minister; Brigadier General Abbas Kamil, the manager of Sisi’s office; and Mahmoud Higazi, who was then head of intelligence and now head of the army. Listen to it as it was translated to English:

In one recording, Sisi is alleged to have asked Kamil to request 10 billion dollars from each of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, to be transferred to a bank account that belongs to the military institution, which he headed at the time, and not to the state.

Sisi and Kamil were reportedly recoded discussing ways money could be funnelled in from the Gulf into Egypt without public knowledge. “They have money like rice,” Sisi is heard saying in the leak, suggesting that they should have a share of that money “like the Americans.”

A second leaked recording was reportedly of a phone conversation between Kamil and a Saudi official, Fahad al-Askara, who is an aide to Khalid al-Tuwaijri, the Secretary General of the Saudi Royal Court under the late King Abdullah, before being ousted by King Salman this year.

Only the voice of Kamil could be heard in this conversation, in which he was alleged to be informing the Saudi official of the result of a meeting by the Egyptian military council on Sisi’s bid to run for presidency – as the meeting was taking place.

Kamil reportedly told the Saudi official that the Egyptian military council will vote in favour of Sisi’s bid to run for the presidential office before the vote took place and before it was announced to the Egyptian public.

According to the Mekameleen, the favourable status that Sisi had enjoyed during the reign of the late Saudi king Abdullah would not continue in the same fervour during the rule of the new monarch. The channel suggested that the apparent collusion between Sisi and Saudi Arabia could be reversed by king Salman.

Most of the alleged insulting language was attributed to Kamil, who branded the Gulf countries – particularly Kuwait – as “half-states”, who should “pay up” because they “are living a fancy life and have piles of money.”

Kamil is also alleged to have said that Kuwait owes Cairo for sending 35,000 Egyptian soldiers to the multinational US-led coalition against Baghdad following Iraq’s invasion of its Gulf neighbour in 1990 – “when [the Kuwaitis] were in trouble.”

The alleged third conversation appears to be primarily focused on securing money from Gulf donors – while using a tone of “despise” towards them, according to the channel – in stark contrast to Sisi’s public statements which claim that Egypt and Arab monarchies have a “shared national security”.

“We should have done what the Syrians [in 1990] did, it’s a question of give and take [money for stances],” Kamil is alleged to have said.

The leaks come one month ahead of a donor conference on Egypt, where key Gulf states are expected to take part.

The worst insults saved for Qatar

However, the most insulting comment was directed towards the emir of Qatar, who Kamil branded as a “son of a b***h” with a bank that has 900 billion dollars in reserves. The remark drew no apparent objection from Sisi.

Vulgar comments towards Qatar’s ruling family were not uncommon in Egypt’s media following Morsi’s overthrow, but they were not known to be made at high official level. The alleged comment could further stall and already slow progress in a rapprochement bid between Doha and Cairo.

Prior to airing the programme, the channel had called on Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the people of Saudi Arabia, as well as Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the people of Qatar to tune in to listen to the leaks.

The programme was disrupted by apparently deliberate attempts targeting its airwaves, but the recordings were made fully available later on YouTube. Supporters of Sisi took to social media to claim that the recording were fake and doctored by Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Since Morsi’s overthrow, a number of recordings allegedly of Sisi have been leaked to the press. The most recent of which was also broadcast by Mekameleen in January, claiming to name prominent Egyptian media figures taking instructions from Sisi’s office.

In December, the channel aired another recording alleging to expose evidence of corruption in Egypt’s judiciary. An earlier leak in December 2013 details a series of dreams by Sisi where he foresaw that he would rule Egypt.

Well, Arabs perhaps should stop flashing there money.

SOURCES
Middle East Eye