After many years as one of many world’s largest recipients of international assist from the US, the Egyptian authorities was nervous about how lengthy largesse would proceed at that stage. However when the US minimize some assist in 2017 over Egypt’s grim human rights file, beautiful Cairo, Egyptian officers discovered an ally in Senator Robert J. Menendez of New Jersey.
He occurred to be the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate International Relations Committee, a place that Egypt apparently thought might strengthen its place in Washington. And whilst he accused the Trump administration of being lax when it got here to Egypt, prosecutors say he granted favors to Egyptian officers who met him by means of his then-girlfriend — signing off on and secretly signing off on arms gross sales. assist foyer Washington to unlock funding.
In return, Mr. Menendez and his spouse, Nadine Menendez, acquired tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in money, checks and gold bars, in response to a federal indictment towards Mr. Menendez unsealed Friday.
It was a value that Egyptian officers clearly felt value paying.
Because the late Nineteen Seventies, Washington has despatched Cairo as much as $1.3 billion annually as a legacy of Egypt’s peace cope with Israel within the Camp David Accords – cash that Egypt cherishes as an indication of its strategic significance, and which has paid for its repeatedly rising navy arsenal.
For Egypt, the US is an indispensable patron, whom it frequently tries to persuade of its worth on points resembling terrorism, safety for Israel and migration to Europe. Positioned within the southeastern Mediterranean, on Israel’s western border, it portrays itself as an island of stability in a turbulent area that features Sudan and Libya.
Egypt’s strategic hand additionally contains the Suez Canal, which is essential for international commerce, and liquefied pure gasoline services that ship vitality to Europe. And reflecting Egypt’s recognition that American assist isn’t assured, Egypt has efficiently performed the US towards its rivals by pursuing arms or enterprise offers with Russia and China.
Successive administrations in Washington have echoed Egypt’s argument, approving all however $85 million of the $1.3 billion package deal this yr. Whereas Egypt isn’t the one undemocratic state to obtain U.S. assist, the package deal has notably outraged rights advocates, members of Congress and different critics who query why the US is supporting an authoritarian, corruption-ridden regime.
After the indictment, critics urged Congress to droop extra assist. About $300 million a yr is topic to human rights situations, and the Biden administration has launched $235 million to Egypt this yr.
Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi got here to energy in 2013 by deposing the nation’s first democratically elected chief, Egypt has arrested tens of 1000’s of activists, opposition politicians, researchers, journalists and different alleged political opponents, together with some Egyptians whose the one obvious violation is insulting residents. -sharing Fb posts criticizing the federal government. It has additionally muzzled the information media and quashed all protests.
On a sensible stage, critics level out that Egypt usually spends assist on gear that makes little sense for its safety wants, which focus primarily on combating scattered teams of radical Islamist insurgents in North Sinai province, close to Israel. A lot of the help goes to air protection, massive ships and fighter jets.
And regardless of receiving the second-highest quantity of US navy assist, Cairo maintains an unequal relationship with Washington after Israel. People in Cairo working with the Egyptian navy describe the angle of Egyptian officers towards their American counterparts as cautious at finest. Egypt has additionally thought-about sending weapons to Russia for its warfare in Ukraine, in response to leaked Pentagon paperwork.
In the course of the years that prosecutors say Mr. Menendez offered favors to Egypt, different members of Congress known as for extra restrictions on navy assist, or for elements of it to be frozen, till Egypt might enhance its human rights file. enhance.
It appeared that Mr. Menendez was amongst these calling for change. He was certainly one of 17 senators who signed a letter in 2018 urging the Trump administration to handle “the erosion of political and human rights” in Egypt when Mr el-Sisi visited Washington.
Egypt had purpose to fret about his objections. As the highest Democrat on the Senate International Relations Committee, Mr. Menendez has the flexibility, shared with solely three different members of Congress, to hinder Washington’s arms gross sales.
Earlier than approving arms gross sales to most international locations, it has lengthy been the State Division’s observe to first informally transient the chairmen and senior members of the Home and Senate panels that oversee international affairs. If these lawmakers don’t signal the proposed transfers, the method shall be paused till the federal government addresses their issues.
Mr. Menendez has used this authority in recent times to dam the cargo of kit to international locations resembling Saudi Arabia and Turkey over human rights issues. However the indictment signifies that regardless of repeatedly making statements and even introducing legislative proposals criticizing Egypt for its human rights file, Mr. Menendez has not used his energy to deliver a few reckoning to implement navy assist to Egypt.
Though different prime Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee additionally declined to dam arms gross sales to Egypt, prosecutors allege that Mr. Menendez did so as a result of he was in Egypt’s pocket.
The Egyptian authorities declined to remark.
The indictment lists a number of situations during which Mr. Menendez allegedly advised his spouse that he deliberate to approve the gun sale, info she then handed on to a good friend, Walid Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman in New Jersey who owned an organization. that was licensed halal meat, and who then handed that info on to Egyptian officers.
Mr. Hana rewarded the Menendezes with money, gold and different bribes, prosecutors say. The offers additionally helped enrich him and served as a manner for Cairo to get cash to Mr. Menendez, in response to the indictment.
In Might 2019, Egypt awarded Mr Hana’s firm, IS EG Halal Licensed, the multimillion-dollar enterprise into certifying all meat imported into the nation from the US – though he had no earlier expertise with halal meat , and though the US The USA Division of Agriculture argued that its monopoly would elevate costs and disrupt the market.
One of many few remaining impartial media retailers in Egypt, Mada Masr, has reported that IS EG Halal Licensed was working with an organization linked to Egypt’s intelligence providers. And a U.S. authorities report on the time discovered that the corporate’s monopoly elevated the worth of U.S. beef liver in Egypt by 32.1 p.c.
In one other indication of Mr. Menendez’s significance to Egypt, the senator met somebody described within the indictment as a senior Egyptian intelligence official at a Washington resort in June 2021, the day earlier than the official was to fulfill with different senators who anticipated to emphasise human rights.
Mr. Menendez despatched his spouse an article outlining anticipated questions, which she then forwarded to a different Egyptian official, in response to the indictment, including a message: “This manner you’ll be able to put together your rebuttals.”
Information studies on the time point out that Abbas Kamel, the top of Egypt’s intelligence service, broadly thought-about the nation’s second strongest man, was visiting Washington that week when he met with members of Congress .
Two days after Mr. Menendez’s assembly with the senior official, Mr. Hana, the Egyptian-American intermediary, went searching for 22 one-ounce gold bars, in response to the indictment. Federal brokers later discovered them within the Menendezes’ dwelling.
