US approves $2.5 bn arms sale to Egypt despite human rights criticism

The Biden administration on Tuesday approved $2.5 billion in arms sales to Egypt despite vocal criticism of Egypt’s human rights record in Congress. The proposed sale includes $2.2 billion in aircraft and related equipment and a separate $355 million sale for air defense radar systems.

In a pair of press releases announcing its approval of the sale, the State Department said the arms deal “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a Major Non-NATO Ally that continues to be an important strategic partner in the Middle East. The proposed sale will improve Egypt’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing airlift support for its forces by moving supplies, equipment, and people, thus strengthening its capacity in the security and humanitarian arena.”

The United States provides $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt annually, of which $300 million is attached to certain conditions. In September, the State Department withheld $130 million of the aid until Egypt “affirmatively addresses specific human rights conditions.” While the State Department did not specify what those conditions were, the Washington Post reported at the time that they included ending prosecutions in Case 173, which has targeted NGOs and human rights advocates, and either dropping charges against or releasing 16 individuals whose names have been raised by US officials with the Egyptian government.

However, the $2.5 billion arms sale announced on Tuesday is nearly 20 times larger than the amount of withheld aid. In a press briefing, State Department spokesperson Ned Price dodged questions on Tuesday about the deal. When a reporter asked, “What is the point of withholding 130 million in foreign military financing when you’re just going to turn around and sell them 2.5 billion in weapons?” Price responded, “If we have anything to add on that … we’ll let you know.” 

Price added: “Our relationship with Egypt is fundamentally important across any number of realms when it comes to regional security, when it comes to counterterrorism, and so, of course, we would like to see that relationship strengthened even more. And one way to do that is additional progress on human rights.”

The deal was announced just hours after six Democratic members of Congress on the House Foreign Affairs Committee urged the Biden administration not to release the $130 million in foreign military financing before the deadline at the end of January if Egypt does not comply with “the full set of specific human rights benchmarks.”

“We recognize and reaffirm important steps Egypt has taken in recent weeks to address such concerns by releasing certain political prisoners and individuals unjustly detained, the Egyptian government must meet the Administration’s conditions in full by the communicated deadline. If not, we urge you to stand by your word and immediately reprogram withheld funds,” they wrote in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the co-chairs of Congress’ Egypt Human Rights Caucus issued a similar statement on Tuesday about the withheld aid: “It is disheartening that it took the United States withholding US taxpayer-gifted weaponry to secure the release of a mere handful of the tens of thousands of political prisoners that remain in Egyptian prisons, and that the President's conditions still appear not to have been met in full. The releases also come on the heels of the indictment in US courts of an Egyptian spy who monitored and obtained information about American residents the regime considered political opponents.”

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy also released a statement on Tuesday saying Egypt “looks unlikely and unwilling to meet the narrow conditions on the remaining $130 million in military aid by the deadline, while the human rights situation more broadly has only deteriorated over the last few months.”