Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is standing against the U.S. government’s weapons deal to Egypt’s authoritarian regime.
Since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi assumed the presidency of Egypt in 2014, following a military coup in 2013 that toppled the Muslim Brotherhood friendly government of Mohamed Morsi.
Since then, el-Sisi has governed Egypt with a firm hand, which has brought a lot of attention from human rights organizations. Human rights NGOs have criticized the Egyptian government for its human rights abuses.
A 2021 report from the State Department confirmed these violations which included illegal or arbitrary killings, disappearances, free speech restrictions, persecution of journalists, forced child labor, torture, among other human rights infractions.
Human Rights Watch listed off some of the most significant human rights violations the Egyptian government has presided over such as “torture crimes against detainees in Egypt are systematic, widespread and likely constitute crimes against humanity.” HRW also listed off incidents that included the arrest and torture of children as young as 12 years old.
Interestingly, Christopher Tremoglie of the Washington Examiner noted that the Biden administration has placed an emphasis on human rights in conducting foreign policy. Despite this, the Biden administration is about to sell weapons to Egypt, a move that Paul adamantly opposes.
In light of these harsh realities, Senator Paul is now opposing the Biden administration’s Egyptian arms deals. Paul believes that the Sisi regime’s human rights abuses should automatically disqualify it from receiving military aid.
Annually, the U.S. provides Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid. In the early stages of the Biden administration, the U.S. government withheld roughly $130 million due to human rights abuses.
Nevertheless, the U.S. has continued arms sales to Egypt which are roughly valued at $2.5 billion. The sale of these weapons was justified on the grounds that it will “support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a Major Non-NATO ally that continues to be an important strategic partner in the Middle East.”
Paul is pushing the Senate to vote on a bipartisan joint resolution that would scrap the latest weapons sale to Egypt.
While the U.S. should not take punitive actions against Egypt, it should not be making sweetheart military deals or getting into entangling alliances with countries that do not uphold pressing national interests.
If military aid and cooperation is to be provisioned, it should only be with strategic partners in the Western Hemisphere, America’s traditional sphere of influence. Anywhere else will just draw the U.S. into unnecessary conflicts.
