The Egypt-Canada File

It's one thing for Egypt to be coping with major disruption to its civil infrastructure, governance, security and politics. Quite another to misinterpret the casual visit of two Canadians presenting as humanitarians as interference of some sinister kind that the current interim government of the country must contend with, by detaining and imprisoning those two perfectly nice Canadians as possible enemies of the state.

They are Canadian, after all, and Canada is not at war with any other country, nor do its citizens seek to foment unrest anywhere in the world.

If, in the pursuit of their agenda of offering humanitarian aid to the downtrodden, the Canadians step on the sensitivities of a nation in turmoil, it is most unfortunate, but with no intent to cause disturbance. Therefore, the Government of Canada would appreciate their release. Kind of like former Prime Minister Jean Chretien on visiting in Pakistan with then-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto pleading on behalf of Ahmed Saed Khadr, imprisoned on suspicion of terrorism, and securing his release as a sign of good faith.

Now two Canadians of impeccable political background and social standing, a doctor and a filmmaker, have been imprisoned in Egypt, along with a handful of other foreigners who took it upon themselves to appear in the roiled country which hasn't appreciated the grace of their visit. John Greyson teaches at York University and they vouch for his honourable intentions. He is a filmmaker and as it happens also an activist committed to the "Palestinian cause".

Tarek Loubani is a Palestinian-Canadian, an emergency room doctor from London, Ontario, who makes frequent trips to Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, where he has in sympathy with the plight of Palestinians living in Gaza, brought Canadian cardiologists in the past to teach up-to-date techniques to Palestinian doctors. As it happens, just over the border is the top-flight Rambam Hospital in Israel, where doctors there would be most happy to teach Palestinian doctors.

In point of fact, roughly one-quarter of the medical staff of the Rambam Hospital are Palestinians, and the hospital itself has no hesitation in using the expertise of its specialists to treat Gazans in need of such aid, not available at Gaza's hospital. But then that doesn't fit the agenda of London's Tarek Loubani since he and his colleague Greyson view Israelis as hated occupiers to be reviled and fought through slanderous public relations campaigns.

Mr. Greyson, famously, is gay, and he must be very aware that if he visited Gaza as an openly-practising homosexual his life would be as good as forfeit, whereas if he visited Tel Aviv he would find himself in the company of a rainbow of others sharing his alter-gender orientation. But then, who can figure the madness that lies rampant in the hearts of men determined on a very specific course of action motivated by hatred?

It seems that a Egyptian judge has ordered the two Canadians as well as another seven foreign nationals held for 15 days while prosecutors whom one must presume have nothing much better to do in the turmoil of their country, undertake an investigation that might determine precisely what all nine foreign elements presumed to accomplish through their visit to Egypt at this most inauspicious time in its history.

We know that Messrs. Greyson and Loubani intended to drop by Gaza to lend their benevolent attention to the cause of resistance against the occupiers, as both have demonstrated in the past that this is a primary focus of theirs. Gaza is run by Hamas, the little brother Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood, both of whom just happen to be in particularly bad odour in Egypt at the present time, for reasons fairly well known within the international community.

Which leads one inevitably to assume that Messrs. Greyson and Loubani walked into their situation with eyes wide open and deeply resolute in their ambition to continue prodding the State of Israel with their poisoned darts of accusation, while affectingly pouring out sweet affection upon the beleaguered Palestinians whom Egyptian authorities and the military will no longer permit entry/exit to/from Gaza.

On their return from Egypt, a waiting media will be de-briefed by the two dauntless adventurers. Perhaps John Greyson will embark upon a film venture to detail his experiences in a country which he may feel he has no reason to regard with fond memories. He can hint darkly at an Israeli plot to colonize Egypt. In the process, interview Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ample room there for his creative imagination.