With all eyes on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sen. Rand Paul wants to stop the Biden administration from funding a different despotic regime in Egypt.
Abdel Fattah al Sisi is Egypt’s president. He receives billions of dollars worth of weapons from the United States. He is also responsible for one of the most abusive governments on the planet. President Joe Biden committed to putting “human rights at the center of foreign policy,” but his willingness to sell weapons to Egypt contradicts that pledge. Thankfully, Sen. Rand Paul is looking to hold Biden to his word.
Al Sisi stands accused of numerous crimes against the people of Egypt. A State Department report from March 2021 detailed some of these human rights abuses, which include unlawful or arbitrary killings, forced disappearances, torture, restrictions on free speech and the press, arrests of journalists, forced child labor, and violence against gays, among others. Biden appears to be turning a blind eye to these abuses and continues to do business with al Sisi.
Sen. Rand Paul, however, is putting principle before profit and opposing Biden’s Egyptian arms deals. He has been outspoken against providing aid to al Sisi’s regime because of these abuses and feels they should be an automatic disqualifier when it comes to support from the U.S. Human Rights Watch detailed some of the egregious, government-sanctioned violence of the regime that Biden wants to aid. It revealed that “torture crimes against detainees in Egypt are systematic, widespread and likely constitute crimes against humanity.” Other incidents include arresting and torturing children as young as 12 years old.
The U.S. gives Egypt $1.3 billion in military aid each year. Initially, the Biden administration withheld $130 million because of concerns over human rights abuses. Yet Biden made a metaphorical deal with the devil just two days later, approving two sales to al Sisi valued at $2.5 billion. The justification was that these weapons 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.” Biden betrayed his own “principles” on foreign policy to assist a dictator who harms teenage children, suppresses journalists, and murders citizens.
Sen. Rand Paul is forcing the Senate to vote on a bipartisan joint resolution that would cancel the latest sale of weapons to Egypt. This is an effort that everyone should support, regardless of political party. More legislators in Congress should follow his lead.
“Victims of Egypt’s brutal regime, as well as advocates for democracy across the world, are grateful to Rand Paul for once again taking this courageous stand against U.S. support for authoritarianism,” said Erik Sperling, executive director of Just Foreign Policy. “Those senators who support the Biden administration’s efforts to arm the Egyptian dictatorship should, at a minimum, be transparent with the American people. Thanks to Senator Rand Paul forcing this vote, we will get to see which Senators stand for democracy and which Senators stand with Egypt human rights violators.”
The U.S. really should not be providing weapons to countries that abuse their citizens as badly as Egypt does. Maybe Biden should look to Paul for some moral guidance.
