EGYPTIAN President Muhammad Mursi’s international debut made its biggest splash at home. After he publicly denounced Syria’s regime while being hosted by Damascus’ top ally Iran, Egyptian supporters and even some critics are lauding him as a new Arab leader that speaks truth to power.
That may have been precisely the point. The drama of his Tehran speech boosts Mursi as he works to entrench his authority in Egypt.
His speech also points to new images he is cultivating: The tough, fearless leader who speaks with the voice of a people who chose him. “He bows in respect for his people, so world leaders bow to him,” proclaimed a photo-montage posted on a Brotherhood-affiliated Facebook page.
In one frame, it shows Mursi bowing his head amid crowds of supporters in Tahrir Square. In the other, it shows Mursi sitting at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran on Thursday, with several dignitaries stooped over him to listen as if bowing and hanging on his every word. Mursi makes his first visit as president to the US in September for the annual UN General Assembly session. Washington might have been expected to be unhappy to see the first visit by an Egyptian president to Tehran since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Instead, it joined in the praise.
State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell welcomed Mursi’s comments on Syria as “very clear and very strong,” particularly as they were made in Tehran “to some people who need to hear it there.” Since his inauguration in late July, Mursi has promised a more independent foreign policy, saying Mubarak’s close adherence to an American line made Egypt ineffectual and irrelevant in the Middle East. Mursi’s supporters touted his speech as an example of his new approach.
His flair in Tehran was certainly a break from the tone of Mubarak’s foreign policy, which usually saw dry repetitions of long-held stances and shunned drama. In contrast, Mursi swept in to visit a longtime rival, eagerly shook the Iranian president’s hand, then gave a hearty call for world support of Syria’s rebels against an “oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy.”
“People haven’t heard an Egyptian leader speaking in this fashion, speaking out a foreign policy position that struck a chord with the region,” said Michael W. Hanna, an Egypt expert at New York’s Century Foundation. “This is the first time that Egypt struck a populist note in terms of its foreign policy in probably decades.”
Even one of Mursi’s staunchest domestic critics, Mohamed Abu Hamed, tweeted: “To the president: A salute of appreciation for your speech in Tehran summit. I hope you implement the ideas you mentioned.” Dozens of supporters lined up the airport road to receive Mursi upon his return from Iran. “Free revolutionaries, we will complete the path,” they chanted.
“Egyptians felt that their president speaks with their tongue and is strong through their will that elected him,” Hussein Ibrahim, the head of the Brotherhood majority in the most recent, now-dissolved Parliament, wrote on his Facebook page. “Outside Egypt, the Arab brothers feel that Egypt is returning to its place and is filling the gap that was caused by the previous regime.”
Ibrahim Eissa, a prominent columnist, said the praise for Mursi overlooked its cautious political calculations. He noted Mursi made little criticism of Israel — “he didn’t even use the phrase ‘Israeli crimes,” Eissa wrote, and reduced the Palestinian issue to that of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and other measures that Mubarak would usually condemn as well.
So far, Mursi has made little change in the Mubarak-era relationship with Israel. Mursi has promised to preserve the landmark Egypt-Israel peace treaty and security cooperation has continued as Egypt’s military wages an operation in Sinai against Islamic militants who have attacked Israel and Egyptian troops.
Mursi has spoken more warmly of Hamas. But he has not significantly eased access to Gaza through their shared border, a key Hamas concern. Hanna, of the Century Foundation, said Mursi is in no condition to make major changes at a time when he has to deal with a faltering economy that needs aid from allies.
Egypt “has no economic base upon which to project power in the region. We are talking about a rhetorical shift in the near term.”
n THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
