This week, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi turned his familiar blend of repression and PR into a masterclass of authoritarian stagecraft. As regional headlines focused on Gaza’s suffering, Cairo was busy tightening its border controls and rhetoric, positioning itself as both a humanitarian gatekeeper and a bastion of “stability” in a region on edge.
The reality on the ground, however, was more brutal. Turkish activists and international human rights groups condemned Sisi’s regime for detaining pro-Palestinian activists and criminalizing even the mildest dissent in the name of security. While Egyptian officials paraded the narrative of “order and calm,” Cairo’s jails quietly filled with journalists and protesters swept up before global summits and aid convoys.
Meanwhile, the saga of humanitarian access to Gaza offered fresh theatre. As Libya’s Khalifa Haftar stalled Gaza-bound aid convoys, Egypt took every opportunity to posture as a regional problem-solver—while quietly letting the blockade drag on and offering little more than press releases to international agencies desperate for real movement.
The regime’s talent for performance did not go unnoticed. International coverage—from China’s state news to the Jerusalem Post—noted that, for all of Sisi’s grandstanding, Egypt’s role as a “mediator” is often little more than a smokescreen for domestic repression and geopolitical stalling.
In Sisi’s Egypt, the script is always the same: project strength, silence dissent, and use every crisis—whether Palestinian, Libyan, or otherwise—to reinforce the illusion of stability. The only thing more predictable than the repression is the applause from international partners happy to look away.