Video shows Egyptian MP protesting Gaza war, not prime minister ripping up peace treaty with Israel

"Egyptian prime minister tore up the peace agreement with Israel," reads Indonesian-language text on an X video shared on February 12, 2025.

The video's caption adds: "Egypt has finally woken up."

The historic peace deal struck between Egypt and Israel in 1979 made Cairo the first Arab government to recognise Israel (archived link).

The peace treaty has remained unbroken even by the devastating Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, which borders both countries, though the conflict has reinvigorated Egyptians' long history of solidarity with Palestinians.

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Screenshot of the false X post, captured on March 6, 2025

The video circulated as Egyptians reacted with fury to US President Donald Trump's proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan -- an idea flatly rejected by Cairo, Amman, as well as Gazans and other neighbouring countries (archived link).

US ally Israel launched a punishing invasion of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023.

The attacks resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, while Israel's military retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,405 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show. Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas's attack, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

Similar claims that Egypt's prime minister had torn up his country's peace treaty with Israel were also shared elsewhere on X, Facebook and SnackVideo.

But the individual ripping up sheets of paper is not Egypt's prime minister.

Egyptian lawmaker

Reverse image searches on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage uploaded by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on November 21, 2023, little more than a month after the war in Gaza broke out (archived link).

The accompanying article is about Egyptian MPs condemning Israel for its retaliatory attacks on Gaza.

While Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly is shown listening to the MPs' remarks, the video identifies the person who ripped up the sheets of paper as member of parliament Dia El-Din Dawood.

"We have a (peace) agreement (with Israel). I disagree with it. This agreement ties Egypt's hands," Dawood is subtitled as saying in the video. "If this agreement is so meaningless, we should tear it apart, for the sake of Egyptian and Arab national security."

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Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the MEMRI video (right)

Dawood's speech was also reported by Lebanese news outlet Lebanon 24 (archived link).

As of March 6, 2025, there have been no official reports that Egypt has severed ties with Israel.

AFP has debunked other misinformation surrounding Israel's war in Gaza here.