Hamas stands to be the major loser in the latest popular revolt in Egypt, which pits millions of Egyptians against now deposed President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.Typical of the antipathy that Egyptians have for Hamas could be seen in this Asharq Alawsat article from a couple of days ago talking about how the Muslim Brotherhood was giving millions to Hamas while Egypt suffered.
When opponents of the Morsi regime announced mass protests demanding Morsi’s resignation, anti-Hamas sentiment escalated with rumors that Hamas militants would be infiltrating from Gaza to help keep Morsi in power. The rumors caused the Egyptian government to ratchet-up its efforts to close the Rafah tunnels between Gaza and Egypt to control the movement of people and to put the rumors to rest.
Despite these efforts, the rumors implicating Hamas in propping up the Morsi regime continued to circulate, prompting additional Egyptian attempts to close the tunnels and restrict movement, a process that is causing severe shortages in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Whatever the truth regarding Hamas’ involvement or lack thereof, perceptions in the streets and squares of Egypt put the Hamas movement in the same corner with Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Because of this, now that Morsi has fallen, one of the first groups to pay the price will be Hamas.
This comes at the worse possible time for the Islamist movement, which recently lost its base in Syria and financial support from Iran as a result of its decision to oppose former ally and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and join the rebels in trying to bring him down.
Even friendly Qatar might discontinue its political and financial support of Hamas. The change in leadership in Doha, with the transfer of power to Prince Tamim, is said to be the result of a yet undeclared policy to moderate Qatar’s foreign policy. When the pro-Qatari Islamist ideologue Yusuf al-Qaradawi traveled to Egyp t this week, he went out of his way to point out that he had not been deported from Qatar.
Hamas slammed a Fatah official who called for an Egyptian-style uprising against Hamas in Gaza.
But Hamas is not taking any chances. Reports say that Hamas has increased the number of military parades in Gaza as a show of force - and intimidation - against any citizens who might plan to protest the regime. A Hamas prosecutor also recently said that there will be more executions in Gaza, and the media might be invited - another way to dissuade any dissent.