Egypt’s US envoy slams ‘deceived’ legislators’ bid to block aid

Prominent US legislators have sought to curtail $1.3bn in annual aid to Cairo, citing human rights violations.

The Egyptian ambassador to the United States has suggested US legislators trying to curtail Washington’s $1.3bn in annual aid to Cairo are being “deceived by lies and falsehoods” propagated by members of a “terrorist organisation”. A thread of tweets on Wednesday, attributed to Ambassador Motaz Zahran, but sent from the official account of the Egyptian embassy in Washington, DC, hailed decades of close ties while praising “the tremendous support to bolster the bilateral relations” shown by the administration of President Joe Biden and “the overwhelming majority of Congressional members”. He added those legislators – seemingly unlike others – were “refusing to be deceived by lies and falsehoods propagated by people who belong to a terrorist organisation with a known record in disseminating hatred and inciting to violence through consistent outright lies and delusional tactics, by exploiting the values we all share, stand by and have inherent moral obligations to patronise, propagate for, and promote”.