Money first, human rights second, and that a repressor like al-Sisi is in power is a detail.
The delivery approved by Washington includes 12 Hercules C-130 tactical transport aircraft and a radar defense system worth more than 350 million dollars. Controversial some democratic deputies. The sale of $2.5 billion worth of military assets to Egypt has been approved by the U.S. State Department, despite calls from some Democrats to reconsider relations with Cairo in light of the human rights situation in the North African country. “This proposed sale will support U.S. foreign policy and national security, helping to improve the security of an important non-NATO country that continues to be an important strategic partner in West Asia,” reads the State Department memo that made the transaction approval official. The delivery approved by Washington includes 12 Hercules C-130 tactical transport aircraft and a radar defense system valued at more than $350 million. The announcement of the sale comes just hours after Democratic Party members asked Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to reconsider the sale of military assets to Egypt in light of the fact that “as recognized by the administration of President Joe Biden,” the North African country “continues to perpetrate widespread and systematic human rights violations. Specifically, the deputies, among whom is also the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks, referred to a tranche of military funding from 130 million dollars that the United States had frozen last September, tying it to an “effective work on human rights conditions in the country” by the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.