Op-ed: The Washington Post Stuck Between Professionalism, Hypocrisy

The Washington Post published a sharply-worded opinion piece that is critical of US President Joe Biden’s dealings with Egypt and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

The writer admitted that Egypt is an “important friend and ally of the United States,” but he claimed that Cairo violates human rights without giving true examples.

On Feb.19, the daily published another base-less editorial criticizing Biden for dealing with Egypt under the pretext of human rights.

The editorial, which denotes the publishing media outlet’s point of view, leaves us with the conclusion that The Washington Post is a hypocritical newspaper.

While it turns a blind eye to other countries’ blatant crimes, The Washington Post sends a cry out on human rights in Egypt based on base-less stories.

In response to this hypocrisy, former editor-in-chief of pan-Arab Asharq Awsat Tariq Al-Hamoyed wrote: “Hypocrites like The Washington Post are not concerned with threatening the safety of nearly 100 million Egyptians. Rather, it is all about implementing a subversive agenda and promoting pretenses.”

The latest piece published Feb. 25 claimed that the US-Egyptian relationship is a paradox, adding that Biden and his team are making a “new start.”

The paper stressed that “Egypt matters” and pointed out that threatening weapons bans will lead to a lose-lose outcome. However, it highlighted the progress of the Egyptian “accelerating” economy.

“The country grew at a healthy 2.7 percent last year, according to a U.S. official based in Cairo, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Tech businesses are flourishing — growing at what the U.S. official says is a 17 percent annual rate — as the hidebound and bureaucratic system gives way to digitization,” the writer noted.

The daily said that Washington needs “a strong, successful Egypt,” alleging that Russia and China simply cannot be viable alternatives in building the modern country that Egyptians want.

Eventually, we can see that The Washington Post is stuck between professionalism, which forces the daily to admit Egypt’s importance as an important ally to the US, and hypocrisy in writing and aligning to particular factions.