What Gaza said to Egypt and the Egyptians

I don’t follow the World Cup, I don’t follow the matches, I’m not a football fan, and everything to me is politics in politics, and everyone has their own interests.

But in the World Cup this time, there are scenes that deserve to be stopped, including this unparalleled encouragement among the people of the Gaza Strip, for the Egyptian team, as those who are suffering gathered in tents, in tragic circumstances, and watched Egypt’s match with Australia, and resisted killing and despair, because they have the right to live, and rejoiced in an unprecedented way for Egypt after its victory over Australia, and the video footage proves this every moment. 

This is a scene that expresses the sons of one nation, and a historical, social and geographical neighborhood, and it has not been subject to all the political employment that we always hear directed against Egypt and its relationship with Gaza, its role during the war, and the areas of blame that used to say where the Egyptians are and why they did not intervene.

This is a unique phenomenon that relays the foundations of theories of political analysis, and proves in many cases that relations between peoples are better than relations between officials, and that there are false impressions of hatred that do not exist in the first place, just as we have to think today about the thousands of comments titled Palestinian names that during the war tarnished the reputation of Egypt and Egyptians, and whether they are real or false calculations, or directed by security agencies outside the framework of the Palestinian-Egyptian relationship, or do they represent a specific political trend?

Egypt’s coach Hossam Hassan responded with the best greeting when he raised the Palestinian flag in the stadium after the victory, and we all heard Egyptian chants saying freedom for Palestine, and he said in media statements: “My heart and soul are with the Palestinians.

May God have mercy on their martyrs. I dedicate this victory to the Egyptian people and the Palestinian people, the good and noble people, my heart and soul with the Palestinian people, who follow the matches of the Egyptian national team and encourage it.”

This is the same scene that Egyptians practiced in the Arab streets of London when they gathered in thousands and raised the flags of Egypt and Palestine in celebration of their victory over Australia, and chanted for Palestine, which angered the Israelis, and the Israeli media pumped bad words against the coach and the Egyptians.

None of the Arabs hates Egypt, nor the Egyptians, and it has its own place in the hearts of Arabs, and there is no evidence of this than the overwhelming joy among the Arabs for Egypt’s qualification to the round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, including the Jordanian fans, who rejoiced for Egypt, and consider that the qualification of any Arab team is a qualification for Jordan, and a direct compensation for Jordan, which was unlucky.

In the story of Egypt and Palestine, we read a lot of conclusions, specifically the aspect that concerns the Gaza Strip and Egypt, an aspect that takes us to the prevailing suspicion of our Arabism and the belief of most of us that we hate each other, and that we are just the remnants of a rival nation, but there is a lot of evidence that proves that the link still exists and is vibrant in politics and sports, despite all attempts to grind this bond and destroy it due to conspiracies, policies, or political dissonance between countries.

We are all sons of one nation, and we have a living bond between us whose importance and role in shaping our popular, political and national identity and conscience cannot be underestimated.

Palestine is my cause and the cause of every honorable Arab.