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Egypt Signals to US It Has Options After First Air Drill with China
China and Egypt have launched their first-ever joint air force drill, “Eagles of Civilization 2025,” at an Egyptian airbase. Photo: Screenshot
JNS.org – A recent joint Egyptian-Chinese first-ever joint air force exercise held in Egypt likely contains messages to the United States and should be closely monitored by Israel, Israeli observers have told JNS.
Egypt announced on April 19, 2025, the commencement of the “Eagles of Civilization 2025,” which brought together multirole fighter jets and other types of aircraft from both countries in Egyptian airspace.
While official Egyptian sources did not detail the specific aircraft involved, Chinese state media outlet CCTV confirmed China’s participation with J-10C multirole fighters and aired footage on April 19 showing a J-10C flying alongside an Egyptian MiG-29 over the Wadi Abu Rish air base, located southeast of Cairo.
According to a report by Israel Defense, the Chinese contingent, including aircraft and personnel, received a formal welcome from senior Egyptian commanders upon arrival. The exercise spanned multiple Egyptian air bases and emphasized operational cooperation between the two air forces.
This collaboration was widely interpreted as signaling Egypt’s intention to broaden its security partnerships, potentially looking beyond its traditional, decades-long military alliance with the United States.
At the same time, Brig. Gen. (res.) Professor Jacob Nagel, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, former acting national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former head of Israel’s National Security Council, advised against overstating the drill’s immediate implications while also cautioning against dismissing it entirely.
“I would not attach excessive importance to the drill. On the other hand, I would not completely disregard it,” Nagel told JNS on Wednesday. “I think that the one who perhaps needs to say something to the Egyptians is indeed the USA, which transfers considerable aid to them.”
Nagel stressed the enduring nature of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, due to its importance for both nations, particularly for Egypt’s economy.
“Egypt preserves the peace agreement and it is important to it at least as much as it is important to Israel, certainly economically, so that even in the days of [former Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad] Morsi, who did not agree to mention the word Israel, did not dare touch the agreement,” he said.
Asked to address recent Israeli concerns about Egyptian military build-up in the Sinai Peninsula, Nagel said the situation should be handled discreetly but firmly.
“Israel does not want to add the Egyptian front to the fronts in which it is currently engaged, but Egypt is a force that must not be underestimated and one must keep a wide-open eye to identify dangers from there, certainly after Oct. 7,” he stated.
Despite these concerns, Nagel said that “this still does not make Egypt a current enemy of Israel. There is a peace agreement between the countries, and even if it is cold, it is very important to both sides.”
The drill occurred against a backdrop of increasing Chinese engagement across the Middle East. Although Beijing has avoided direct military deployments, it has expanded its influence through significant arms sales, diplomatic interventions like the 2023 Saudi-Iran rapprochement it mediated, and extensive infrastructure investments under initiatives such as the Belt and Road.
Dr. Ori Sela, Professor at the Department of East Asian Studies at Tel Aviv University and Senior Visiting Researcher at the INSS, placed the air exercise in the context of a longer history of Sino-Egyptian military relations.
“While the joint exercise is a milestone of sorts for China-Egypt military collaboration, it should be understood through a more general perspective,” Sela explained. “First, China and Egypt have had military relations for a long time. This also includes joint military exercises, albeit the naval dimension was usually the focal point.”
He noted that China conducts similar drills with other states in the Middle East, such as Turkey and the UAE.
Sela also linked the exercise to Egypt’s broader strategy of diversifying its military procurement and partnerships, an effort underway for some time.
“China has also been exporting arms to Egypt, and rumors about sales of more advanced platforms (both aerial—the J10C fighter, and naval— the Type 039A submarine, for example) have been around for some time now,” he noted, adding, “These, however, are part of a longer and more robust diversification effort by the Egyptians.”
At the same time, Sela said, the appearance of the Chinese KJ-500 [Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft] in Egypt now “does hint at a Chinese attempt to project more advanced capabilities to the region, and Israel should monitor this situation closely.”
The exercise does not necessarily mean that Egypt is pivoting away from Washington, but rather is a strategic signal towards its long-time ally, he argued, “that Egypt does have options, and that while the U.S. is sometimes quick to threaten countries and make demands, Egypt is hoping to have the ability to hedge against possible negative moves by the US.”
Sela suggested a path forward for Jerusalem regarding these dynamics, stating, “Israel would be wise to encourage the strengthening of the US-Egypt relationship rather than add fuel to the fire, and, at the same time, its own relationship with Egypt. Driving wedges between Egypt and the US would be a mistake.”
The post Egypt Signals to US It Has Options After First Air Drill with China first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syrian Leader al-Sharaa Holds Talks With Erdogan on Surprise Istanbul Visit
Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s interim president, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, met during al-Sharaa’s first diplomatic trip since the fall of the al-Assad regime. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was holding talks with Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday, local media reported. No further details were available.
This comes one day after the US administration of President Donald Trump issued orders that it said would effectively lift sanctions on Syria in order to help the country rebuild after a devastating civil war.
The Treasury Department issued a general license that authorizes transactions involving the interim Syrian government led by Al-Sharaa, as well as the central bank and state-owned enterprises.
The general license, known as GL25, “authorizes transactions prohibited by the Syrian Sanctions Regulations, effectively lifting sanctions on Syria,” the Treasury said in a statement.
Syria welcomed the sanctions waiver early on Saturday, which the Foreign Ministry called a “positive step in the right direction to alleviate the country’s humanitarian and economic suffering.”
Syria is keen on cooperating with other countries “on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference in internal affairs. It believes that dialogue and diplomacy are the best path to building balanced relations,” the ministry said in a statement.
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‘It Was Just An Accident’ by Iran’s Jafar Panahi Wins Cannes’ Top Prize
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d’Or award winner for the film “Un simple accident” (It Was Just an Accident), reacts, during the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 24, 2025. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Revenge thriller “It Was Just An Accident” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who was last at the Cannes Film Festival in person more than 20 years ago, won the Palme d’Or top prize on Saturday.
Panahi, who has been arrested several times for his filmmaking and was under a travel ban until recently, last attended the festival in person in 2003, when “Crimson Gold” was screened in the Un Certain Regard category.
“Art mobilizes the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.
“It Was Just An Accident” follows Vahid, played by Vahid Mobasseri, who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.
Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer – and then decide what to do with him.
An emotional Panahi, wearing sunglasses on stage, thanked his cast and film crew during his acceptance speech.
The Grand Prix, the second-highest prize after the Palme d’Or, was awarded to “Sentimental Value” from acclaimed director Joachim Trier.
The jury prize was split between the intergenerational family drama “Sound of Falling” from German director Mascha Schilinski and “Sirat,” about a father and son who head into the Moroccan desert, by French-Spanish director Oliver Laxe.
Brazil’s “The Secret Agent” won two awards, one for best actor for Wagner Moura, as well as best director for Kleber Mendonca Filho.
“I was having Champagne,” said Mendonca Filho after he ran up to the stage to collect his award after celebrating Moura, who previously made a name for himself in hit TV series “Narcos.”
Newcomer Nadia Melliti took home best actress for “The Little Sister,” a queer coming-of-age story centered around the daughter of Algerian immigrants in Paris.
Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, who have the rare honor of already having won two Palme d’Or prizes, took home the award for best screenplay for their film “Young Mothers.”
Twenty-two films in total were competing for the prize at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, with entries from well-known directors Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson and Ari Aster.
Saturday’s closing ceremony officially ends the glamour-filled festival that began on May 13.
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Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Admin From Revoking Harvard Enrollment of Foreign Students
US President Trump speaks to the media at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Washington, DC, April 21, 2025. Photo: Andrew Leyden/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the Ivy League school called part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to “surrender its academic independence.”
The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students who were faced with being forced to transfer under a policy that the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university called a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution and other federal laws, and said would have an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the 389-year-old school said in its lawsuit filed earlier on Friday in Boston federal court. Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions that value independence from partisan politics to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias.
Harvard has pushed back hard against Trump, having previously sued to restore nearly $3 billion in federal grants that had been frozen or canceled. In recent weeks, the administration has proposed ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status and hiking taxes on its endowment, and opened an investigation into whether it violated civil rights laws.
Leo Gerden, a Swedish student set to graduate Harvard with an undergraduate degree in economics and government this month, called the judge’s ruling a “great first step” but said international students were bracing for a long legal fight that would keep them in limbo.
“There is no single decision by Trump or by Harvard or by a judge that is going to put an end to this tyranny of what Trump is doing,” Gerden said.
In its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown “countless” academic programs, clinics, courses and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation. It said the revocation was a punishment for Harvard’s “perceived viewpoint,” which it called a violation of the right to free speech as guaranteed by the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
The Trump administration may appeal US District Judge Allison Burroughs’ ruling. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “unelected judges have no right to stop the Trump Administration from exercising their rightful control over immigration policy and national security policy.”
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, his administration has accused several universities of indifference toward the welfare of Jewish students during widespread campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Harvard’s court challenges over the administration’s policies stand in contrast to its New York-based peer Columbia University’s concessions to similar pressure. Columbia agreed to reform disciplinary processes and review curricula for courses on the Middle East, after Trump pulled $400 million in funding over allegations the Ivy League school had not done enough to combat antisemitism.
In announcing on Thursday the termination of Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective starting in the 2025-2026 academic year, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, without providing evidence, accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
Harvard says a fifth of its foreign students in 2024 were from China. US lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the influence of the Chinese government on US college campuses, including efforts by Beijing-directed Chinese student associations to monitor political activities and stifle academic speech.
The university says it is committed to combating antisemitism and investigating credible allegations of civil rights violations.
HARVARD DEFENDS ‘REFUSAL TO SURRENDER’
In her brief order blocking the policy for two weeks, Burroughs said Harvard had shown it could be harmed before there was an opportunity to hear the case in full. The judge, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, scheduled hearings for May 27 and May 29 to consider next steps in the case. Burroughs is also overseeing Harvard’s lawsuit over the grant funds.
Harvard University President Alan Garber said the administration was illegally seeking to assert control over the private university’s curriculum, faculty and student body.
“The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence,” Garber wrote in a letter on Friday to the Harvard community.
The revocation could also weigh on Harvard’s finances. At many US universities, international students are more likely to pay full tuition, essentially subsidizing aid for other students.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Harvard’s bonds, part of its $8.2 billion debt pile, have been falling since Trump first warned US universities in March of cuts to federal funding.
International students enrolled at Harvard include Cleo Carney, daughter of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and Princess Elisabeth, first in line to the Belgian throne.
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