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Egypt Envoy to Palestine Accuses Hamas of Incitement

Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority warns Hamas that its continued support for the Muslim Brotherhood will only cause it harm.

Palestinians shout slogans during a rally in solidarity with Egypt's deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi and in protest of the recent violence in Egypt organized by Hamas movement in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 16, 2013. Deeply polarised Egypt braced for renewed confrontation on Friday after the Muslim Brotherhood called for a nationwide march of millions to show anger at a ferocious security crackdown on Islamists in which hundreds were killed.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman (WEST BANK - Tags:
Palestinians shout slogans during a rally in solidarity with Egypt's deposed President Mohammed Morsi and in protest of the recent violence in Egypt organized by Hamas in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Aug. 16, 2013. — REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

In a sign of worsening ties, Egypt’s envoy to the Palestinian Authority (PA) has accused Hamas of incitement against Egypt.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Yasser Othman, Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian territories, said Hamas and its government in Gaza were conducting an incitement campaign against Egypt through its media and mosques.

“It is shocking to us the degree to which Hamas is inciting against Egypt; its media and propaganda apparatuses have been fully exploited since the beginning of the January 25 Revolution to attack Egypt, its state and army and to defend the Muslim Brotherhood regime,” Othman told Al-Monitor during a phone interview.

While the ambassador reiterated that Hamas had, since the beginning of the revolution, deployed all its resources to side with the Muslim Brotherhood against the Egyptian people’s wishes, Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was quoted as saying on Aug. 16 that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood “shared the same educational and intellectual philosophy, but that the latter did not justify interfering in Egyptian affairs.”

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