Egypt’s 2013 Revolution Halts Islamist Rise, Inspires Regional Change

Tunisian demonstrators wave the national flag during a protest in central Tunis against their president on January 14, 2023. Islamists' rapid rise to power in the Middle East following the Arab Spring revolutions came to a halt following a popular revolution that swept Egypt on June 30, 2013. PHOTO BY FETHI BELAID/GETTY IMAGES

Islamists’ rapid rise to power in the Middle East following the Arab Spring revolutions came to a halt following a popular revolution that swept Egypt on June 30, 2013.

Several days of protests across the country were met with violence by the Muslim Brotherhood and allied Islamists who sought to protect the first Islamist President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, at all costs. But the Egyptian army declared it would side with the will of the people on July 3 and ousted Morsi, signaling a 

“The revolution (June 30) itself did not stop the efforts by the MB but it sent a strong message across the various countries that MB was not in fact a popular movement in Egypt and did not have the power or the influence that it claimed to have,” said Tsukerman. “It had no popular or political legitimacy despite external efforts to prop it up, and that it could and should be stopped to avoid disastrous and unpopular results such as marginalization of minorities, the spread of extremist ideology.

Following the ouster of El-Bashir in 2019, Sudan turned a new page and the former stronghold of Islamists and launchpad of terrorist groups including Al Qaeda in the region adopted a secular constitution and recognized Israel. Sudan and Israel announced last February that they will normalize relations this year.

“Sudan is one of the countries that benefited the most and most directly from Egypt’s revolution. In fact, arguably, the June 30 event served as a model and a direct inspiration for the ousting of Bashir,” said Tsukerman.

Dozens of Egyptians celebrate on June 30 the fourth anniversary of the protests The memory of Abdul Fattah al – Sisi, the isolation of President Mohamed Morsi on the rule in Egypt in Cairo, Egypt on 30 June 2017.new era in the region.Prior to the June 30 revolution, Islamists across the region had reached the highest echelons of power, including the presidency in Egypt in 2012. They controlled the parliaments of Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan. PHOTO BY FAYED EL GEZIRY/GETTY IMAGES  

“In Tunisia, elections eventually put a limit to the extent of Muslim Brotherhood influence and activity. Ennahada, the MB party, too came to be seen as corrupt and linked to foreign actors. Tunisia was ripe for internal strife; the situation there is not ideal now, but [the] MB is now only one of competing interests and concerns; it has lost a lot of political hold and power,” said Tsukerman.

The international community is at risk of “having the Muslim Brotherhood create instability” in Tunisia if the country is not swiftly granted “substantial financial help,” said Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani at a conference last March. “We can’t afford the radicalization of the Mediterranean.”

That said, the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempts to return to the political scene in the Middle East cannot be discounted.

 

Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate