The ‘Mexican president’ closing the Rafah crossing

There is a madman bombing the Rafah crossing; a liar closing the crossing; and between them is a frail-looking old man trying to open the crossing. “The President of Mexico” Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was refusing to open the crossing until Biden spoke to him and convinced him to do so. This is how Biden described Al-Sisi in an official press conference in front of the cameras.

This is a new scandal and another accusation by the US against the “Mexican” Al-Sisi. What was his response?

The Egyptian presidency issued a strange statement. It neither denied, confirmed, denounced, condemned, rejected nor expressed any reservations about the accusation by the US president. The presidency avoided, justified, went back, and repeated phrases that Al-Sisi said from the beginning, but they remained within the same realm: the crossing is open, aid is available, and Egypt is fulfilling its role to the fullest extent, which is the opposite of what Biden said.

It was a weak Egyptian statement that no one believed.

The crossing is closed, trucks are piled up in front of the crossing, lined up for kilometres, the famine is getting worse inside the Gaza Strip and the media keeps playing the same broken records that neither open the crossing nor end the famine.

Biden’s statements calling Al-Sisi “the Mexican president” and accusing him of closing the crossing angered the Egyptian Media Production City, so they pushed their media outlets into action, cursing the US president and called him a senile old man in a hashtag on X. He appears to suffer from Alzheimer’s and loss of memory.

Given this possible diagnosis, it has been odd to see official Egypt trying to discredit what Biden says now, but every time Biden called Al-Sisi over the past four months the compliant media outlets celebrated the calls and talked about Biden’s interest in Al-Sisi and how Egypt is on the map of the major regional powers that America cannot do without.

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Back to Biden: he had to hold a press conference for himself, the president of the most powerful country in the world, just to reassure the American public that the president’s health is fine, he has not lost his memory, he has not forgotten important information, he has not made a mistake in the names of his aides, and he still has the mental, psychological and mental capacity to remain in the White House. And to stand for re-election in November.

However, he did indeed refer to Al-Sisi as the Mexican president. Did he say it by mistake, or did the voices of millions of Egyptians actually reach him? Two years ago, an anonymous young Egyptian man recorded a short video clip in which he addressed a message to His Excellency Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Mexiky (“the Mexican”), asking him to control the rise in prices in Egypt. This young man coined the nickname “El-Mexiky” and since then the nickname has been circulated widely on social media as an alternative to “Al-Sisi” in an attempt to escape electronic security surveillance and prosecution.

Make fun of your president and give him a nickname, then repeat it over and over until you hear it from the president of a global superpower. This is how the Egyptians celebrated the Mexican nickname, which the US president surprised them with live on air.

Al-Sisi’s biggest problem is that he follows social media sites well and interacts with them in his speeches, commenting on what is written about him, getting angry at those criticising him and calling for his departure using #Leave Sisi. This immature mentality when it comes to dealing with social media criticism and ridicule cannot handle this nickname turning into a global trend after the Biden press conference.

Al-Sisi has the ability to monitor social media sites in Egypt. His security services pursue activists, arrest them and eliminate them for just one word against Al-Sisi, so what will he do now? Will he arrest all the Mexicans in Egypt? Will he sever diplomatic relations between Egypt and Mexico? How will Al-Sisi deal with the El-Mexiky nickname which seems as if it will haunt him until his departure?

Al-Sisi must be used to being insulted, and we are all used to laughing at him every time. He has now become a global laughingstock, sometimes seen in traditional Mexican clothing, and on occasion appearing to speak in Spanish in videos of his speeches.

No matter where the man turns, nothing good comes his way. He claims that God has blessed him, but these blessings are taken away with every action. Things are going in the opposite direction for him. Whenever he claims that Egypt is playing a strong role when it comes to the Palestinian people, it is denied by his closest allies. It’s already been said by Israel and Biden.

Mexican President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi bows low to Netanyahu; is an ostrich when it comes to Biden; is a monster over the Rafah crossing; and is a ferocious lion against the Egyptian people.

This article first appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 10 February 2023

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.