“The reason for what’s happening to our Palestinian brothers is because of Hamas,” says an Egyptian taxi driver, representing growing anti-Hamas sentiment in that country, which also borders Gaza. “Hamas is an extremist group.”
Hamas has “terrible policies and the outcomes of those policies are being felt by women and children,” said taxi driver Medhat Kamel, 40, about civilian deaths in Gaza. “They rely on violence and don’t use dialogue.”
An echo of the anti-Hamas rhetoric coming from Israel during its conflict with Gaza is resonating from what many would consider a surprising corner since fighting erupted July 8: Egypt.
A country whose leader just over a year ago had been a close Hamas ally is now one of its principal antagonists. It is stirring up public opinion against the militant group because Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has outlawed.
Normally, Egyptians would be decrying Israel for the Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is at more than 750 and rising. But Abou Ahmed Shehab, 60, who sells scarves at a sidewalk stand in central Cairo, was quick to attack Hamas.
“The reason for what’s happening to our Palestinian brothers is because of Hamas,” he says. “Hamas is an extremist group.”
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