For The Sake of Egypt Publish Dr. Al Awa’s Op-Ed

Al Masry Al Youm Daily did not publish the second part of Dr. Al Awa’s op-ed  which was about the recent sectarian tension which he was accused of enlarging it. The first part of the Op-ed came right after his interview in Dream TV and many people welcomed it.

Al Masry Al Youm justified this strange action in statement claiming that Dr. Al Awa in his 2nd op-ed exceeded the agreed space and that due to the many reactions the first part generated from both sides , it was for the sake of Egypt , for the sake of our national unity the administration has decided not to publish the 2nd part of the Op-ed !!

This is confusing and it puts the famous newspaper in a very bad position because of the following reasons in my opinion :

1. Starting with the title of the newspaper’s justification “For Egypt and not For Al Masry Al Youm”  , it does not make sense because the first reason was not about Egypt but about the space available for Al Awa in the Op-ed’s page !!
2. Did not Al Masry Al Youm expect that Al Awa’s op-eds would generate huge reactions from both sides !!?? It is naïve not to think.
3. Is the space or is it the Egyptian unity for God sake !!??

The decision has already created anger between the readers of the newspaper. Egyptian Writer Balal Fadl has decided not to write in Al Masry in solidarity with Al Awa in one of the strongest reactions in the media. Wael Kandel also tackled the matter in his daily column at Al Shorouk daily and tomorrow Al Dostor daily is going to published that op-ed.

Now here is what Dr. Al Awa wrote :

• The Church and the nation “Part 1”
• The Church and the nation “ Part 2” ----> He published it in his official website

If you find something  more dangerous than what was said in the past two weeks please tell me.

This decision did more harm to our Egyptian unity than Al Awa’s op-ed and the reactions it generated from both sides because now many Muslims believe that Naguib Sawiris who owns shares in the paper interfered to stop Al Awa’s op-eds. 

Al Masry Al Youm could have disabled the comments online and made the debate on its printed pages between the thinkers , intellectuals and church men speak up , it will not be worse than what the real radicals from both sides say.

The sectarianism ghost will not go away by fighting and throwing stones on Al Awa because the radicals from both sides are growing in strength. Yesterday there was big protest in Fatah mosque attacking the Church and Pope and there are calls for more protests next Friday too , it is unwise to keep our heads in the sand.

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