One of the Arab world’s most popular and famous actor / comedians told Egyptian journalists that he believes that Hamas, not Israel, is responsible for the current war raging in the Middle East and the suffering of innocent Palestinian civilians.

Adel Imam has always been an outspoken critic of extremists, portraying them in his movies as barbarous, hateful individuals who act in breach with Egyptian history and culture. 

About the conflict in the Middle East Imam said: “Hamas ignored our warnings and chose to lead an asymmetrical war. It’s preferable for Hamas to stop [the rocket attacks]. They should have known that Israel wasn’t going to receive the attacks with roses.”

Imam is not the first prominent Egyptian to blame Hamas for the violence. A leading figure of the Egyptian parliament also blamed Hamas, arguing that the terrorist organization has purposefully brought disaster on its own people. 

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also took that position last week, explaining that the Egyptian government warned Hamas to abide by and prolong the ceasefire agreement it agreed to earlier. Since Israel could not be expected to take Hamas’ attacks lying down, Hamas should have known better than to taunt the powerful Israeli army, Gheit said.

Since Egypt is a highly authoritarian country ruled by President Hosni Mubarak there can be no doubt about where Mubarak himself stands; when his foreign minster and a leading figure in the Egyptian parliament blame Hamas not Israel for the violence, Mubarak agrees with them. If not, they would not have spoken out or they would have publicly condemned Israel rather than Hamas.

It is a fascinating development; Egypt could very well be called the Arab world’s most powerful and influential member. It aims to become its leader as well, a position it has held for quite some time (under Nasser, for instance). Having Egypt turn against Hamas and, perhaps, even less sympathetic towards the Palestinian people as a whole makes it more likely that other Arab countries will follow suit and that, at the very least, Hamas et al. will find themselves more isolated than ever before in the coming months and years which could very well result in Palestinian leaders being more willing to agree to a compromise.

The above is all part of the powerstruggle between Sunni Arab countries, led by Egypt, and the increasingly powerful Shiite Iran. Iran supports Hamas – the group is a tool of Tehran – and Sunni Middle Eastern countries know and are unhappy with it. They have seen their own influence in the region and in Palestine specifically decrease in the last decade while Iran has made inroads everywhere. Egypt is clearly fed up and has decided to take steps in order to decrease Iran’s influence in region. 

The U.S., Israel and the West as a whole are wise to use these recent developments in order to get Egypt more actively involved in curbing Iran’s regional aspirations. Egypt would be a powerful Middle Eastern ally for the West.