'Disgraceful and provocative': Uproar in Egypt over Israeli warship crossing Suez Canal

Egyptian journalists and activists held a protest on Sunday evening outside the Journalists' Syndicate headquarters in downtown Cairo to voice their objection to the passage of an Israeli warship through the Suez Canal.

The protesters shouted anti-Israel slogans and denounced the Egyptian government's stance towards Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, which has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, and has extended to Lebanon in recent months.

"You have dragged [our nation] into the mud," the angry crowd shouted in reference to the government.  

The gathering witnessed a relatively low turnout due to it not being publicised over concerns it would banned by the authorities.

Security forces cordoned off the area shortly afterwards, and there was heavy security presence along the streets surrounding the union's building.

The protest came almost two days after an Israeli ship was spotted crossing the Red Sea in Egypt's northeastern Port Fuad city via the Suez Canal.

Over the weekend, a video purportedly showing an Israeli warship crossing the canal as it raised the flags of Egypt and Israel ignited fury among the mostly pro-Palestine Egyptians.

"Allowing an Israeli warship to cross the Suez Canal, especially during such tough times, is outrageous and provocative," one protest organiser told The New Arab on condition of anonymity for safety concerns.

In the background of the video, a few men and women shockingly describe the scene as they take pictures and videos using their mobile phones.

"Who are you going to kill by using that?" asked one woman rhetorically as she pointed at the naval vessel.

The Suez Canal is one of the world's most significant maritime passages and a key source of Egypt's national income and foreign currency.  But the waterway has suffered significant blows over the past months following recurrent attacks on international shipping crossing the Red Sea at the hands of the Houthis in Yemen in response to Israel's war on Gaza.

In response to the ongoing outcry, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement on Saturday that Egypt had been committed to the "Constantinople Convention" signed in 1888. This convention dictates that ships of any nation can pass freely during war and peace, considering the waterway a neutral zone.

The government agency tasked with operating the waterway did not explicitly refer to the Israeli warship.  

Egyptian woman Karma Garman questions the Egyptian authorities' decision to approve an Israeli warship's passage through the Suez Canal, knowing how these weapons are used. pic.twitter.com/pAK8WoYrY4

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) November 3, 2024

An international law expert, who spoke to The New Arab on condition of anonymity due to the political sensitivity of the matter, disagrees with the official justification.

"Egypt was not among the signatories of the convention as a sovereign state, which, arguably, makes it unbinding to the Egyptian state," the expert argued.

"The agreement dictates that Egypt can legally ban the passage of any ships or shut down the canal in case there is a threat to its national security, which happened in several cases over the past decades," the expert added.

In 1956, late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company to facilitate funding for the Aswan High Dam project. Before that, the company was operated by France and Britain.  

At the outbreak of the 1967 war, Egypt closed the canal to international shipping. It was only reopened in 1975 during peace talks under the late President Anwar Sadat.

The Suez Canal Authority's response is Egypt's second, involving a similar occurrence.

The Egyptian army official spokesman Gharib Abdel Hafez denied in an earlier statement on 31 October any military cooperation with Israel, also without specifying the occasion.

The statement came after angry reactions on social media after the German MV Kathrin had docked on 28 October in Egypt's Port of Alexandria with explosives aboard to be shipped to Israel after several countries denied its entry into their waters.

Despite a technical state of peace with Israel since the late 1970s, the Egyptian public has been at loggerheads with their country's successive regimes over normalisation.

Diplomatically and commercially, Cairo treated Tel Aviv as a friendly nation with strong ties in several areas. Still, tensions have skyrocketed after Israel launched its onslaught on Gaza in October last year, killing at least 43,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children.

Meanwhile, Sunday's protesters called for the release of all detainees arrested over the past year during similar gatherings held in support of Gaza, as well as other activists and jailed journalists.

"Regardless of how many cells you open up, we will continue our endeavour," the enthusiastic crowd shouted.