No. 1685 | February 6, 2008

Retired Egyptian General Hussam Sweilem Slams Hamas for Destroying Egyptian Border and Warns of Extremist Religious Regimes Neighboring with Egypt

 No. 1685 | February 6, 2008

Retired Egyptian General Hussam Sweilem Slams Hamas for Destroying Egyptian Border and Warns of Extremist Religious Regimes Neighboring with Egypt

Following are excerpts from an interview with retired Egyptian general Hussam Sweilem, which aired on Al-Al-Mihwar TV on February 6, 2008.

To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1685.htm

General Hussam Sweilem: The most important issue today is the organized crime that came from across the border. This is a violation of Egypt's sanctity, a transgression of its borders, which [Hamas] has called "the great raid." They called the transgression of our borders "a raid"...

Interviewer: Who did?

General Hussam Sweilem: Those Hamas members from Hamastan.

[...]

Interviewer: Why is it a crime, if these people came to buy medical supplies, and to look for food?

General Hussam Sweilem: How would you explain that the people who got into Egypt... We allowed them in, but they violated Egypt's sanctity, and entered our country with bulldozers, and then with men wearing masks from the 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades... Those are Hamas members, not the Palestinian people... But it was completely organized. It was organized four months ago, not now.

[...]

How can I sympathize with people who smuggled into Egypt cars with explosives belts, weapons, ammunitions, and explosive devices? How can I sympathize with a man with an explosives belt at Bani Sweif? What's he planning to do with his explosives belt there? Two [Palestinians] were arrested with explosives at Bani Sweif. What, they were going to fight the Jews at Bani Sweif? Is this proper Islamic behavior, with which I can sympathize, when they break into homes of women at Al-'Arish and Rafah, and attack Egyptian women for not allowing them to sleep in their homes? Who would allow a stranger to break into his home, when there are women there? How can I sympathize with someone who detonated an explosives device in Rafah? How can I sympathize with them, when after taking all the goods from the shops of the Egyptians, they paid with counterfeit dollars?

[...]

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