US lawmakers discuss withholding $300M in Egypt military financing

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Sep 2022 20:41

The reason, according to the lawmakers, is the systemic violations of human rights in Egypt - something that the US is generally renowned for.

In 2021, Freedom House ranked Egypt as "Not Free" in its annual Freedom in the World report.

In a letter lawmakers of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, members of the committee advised the State Department to withhold a $300 million fund in foreign military financing (FMF) to Egypt due to the country's poor record in human rights.

"We write to express our concerns over the State Department providing the $300 million conditioned on human rights in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to Egypt … we remain concerned by continued reports – both by the State Department as well as credible international and Egyptian organizations – about the ongoing, pervasive, and systemic violations of human rights in Egypt that risk destabilizing the country," the lawmakers stated in the letter.

“...as the Department weighs whether to grant Egypt the $300 million in FY21 FMF or to withhold such funds from obligation, we call on you not to certify that Egypt has taken “sustained and effective steps” to implement the criteria as required by law,” the letter stated.

According to the letter, Egypt did not succeed in taking the "sustained and effective steps" required to be eligible for funding. Last year, the US has also withheld the amount of $130 million for the same reasons stated in the letter.

The letter concludes that the Biden administration's prioritization of human rights is congruent with the spirit and intent of the FMF standards.

The letter sent to Blinken was signed by Chair Gregory W. Meeks, Representatives William R. Keating, Gerald Connolly, Tom Malinowski, David Cicilline, Ted Lieu, and Sara Jacobs.

Although the US claims it is halting the transaction due to human rights concerns, it seems unbothered by the massacres in Yemen executed by Saudi Arabia. One look at the US arms sales amounting to $3 billion in five years from 2015 till 2020, not to mention agreeing to sell over $64.1 billion worth of weapons to Riyadh, which is around $10.7 billion annually, says it all.

The most notorious state for its blatant disregard of any human rights is "Israel", yet that did not stop the US from approving $1 billion for "Israel's" Iron Dome in 2021.

Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham announced that "Israel" would request $1 billion in emergency military aid from the United States to replenish the Israeli occupation forces' ammunition stockpile following the aggression on Gaza.

But the most staggering series of transfers is undoubtedly the US military support to Ukraine's armed forces, amounting to a wobbling $13.5 billion in security assistance since the start of the war, according to the MoD website.

According to commentator Alice Speri, the US government has pumped more money and weapons into supporting the Ukrainian military than it sent in 2020 to Afghanistan, "Israel", and Egypt combined — surpassing in a matter of months three of the largest recipients of US military aid in history.

Most recent updates reveal that the US has promised to help solve the conflict between Yerevan and Baku. In doing so, it underplays Russia's peacekeeping efforts in solving hostilities.