Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is encouraging members of the BRICS economic bloc to support a Palestinian state.
Egypt Today reported on Monday that “in his speech at a virtual BRICS Summit held on Monday, Sisi affirmed Egypt’s unwavering position, categorically rejecting any scenario aimed at displacing Palestinians from their land, under any pretext.”
The report added, “Sisi called upon the countries of the BRICS group to support ongoing efforts to revive the two-state solution and recognize the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state along the June 4, 1967, borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital.”
Egypt's growing frustration with Israel
This comes amid a flurry of other comments by Egypt slamming Israel’s actions. Cairo has warned against Gazans being displaced due to the fighting in Gaza City. Egypt has received support from Saudi Arabia and the UAE in condemning what the Egyptian pro-government Al-Ahram termed “Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.”
Turkey’s Anadolu media noted that Sisi accused Israel, on Monday, of pursuing the “most heinous forms of killing and terror” against Palestinians.
“For almost two years, Israel has been committing the most heinous forms of killing and terror, using starvation and denial of health services as a weapon against civilians,” Sisi said.
“Israel continued to expand its military operations to destroy the foundations of life, with the aims of forcing Palestinians to leave their land, implementing a plan for forced displacement, and liquidating their just cause,” he continued.
Sisi was speaking virtually at an extraordinary summit of BRICS heads of state and government in Brazil. The BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, South Africa, China, India, and other non-Western countries.
The meeting comes after a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in China, where India and Russia’s leaders joined the Chinese to shape a post-American world order. Sisi’s comments to BRICS seek to appeal to the Global South and non-Western states. Most of these countries already back the Palestinians. For instance, Brazil and South Africa are run by anti-Israel governments.
While Egyptian and foreign media focused on Sisi’s comments about Israel, the Egyptian official government website had a more general statement.
“Sisi participated virtually in the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the BRICS Group. The summit convened at the invitation of the Federative Republic of Brazil, in its capacity as the current rotating chair of the group,” it said.
“The summit aimed to discuss current international developments, exchange perspectives on global developments, and explore avenues for fostering coordination among BRICS member states in order to address the rapidly evolving challenges that particularly affect developing nations,” Egypt’s state information service said.
The statement by Sisi comes as Egypt is also conducting joint training exercises with American forces. Egypt receives financial support from the US as part of the peace deal that Cairo signed with Israel decades ago.
Egypt has been a close ally of the US since the 1980s, when it shifted its foreign policy away from the Soviet Union and toward peace. However, it is now outraged by comments in Israel suggesting that Gazans should move to Egypt. It doesn’t want spillover from the Israel-Hamas War.
The recent US-Egypt training came as part of Bright Star 2025, which continues through September 10. Forty-four countries are participating in the Mohamed Naguib Military Base drill.
“Egypt’s military spokesman said the training activities have included live-fire drills from multiple firing positions, designed to enhance the operational readiness of the participating forces,” Egypt’s government said.
It added that “short tactical courses” also covered key areas such as improvised explosive device countermeasures, battlefield first aid, medical evacuation procedures, and counter-drone operations.