Remains of Egyptian firefight in Sinai with t
Remains of Egyptian firefight in Sinai with tReuters

There's no love lost between the new government of Egypt and Hamas, with the former rejecting the latter over Hamas' support of the Muslim Brotherhood, the arch-enemy of newly-elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief who toppled the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi last year. So far, Egypt has largely stayed out of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, offering little more than platitudes on the importance of calm, and half-heartedly suggesting itself as a broker for a cease-fire.

But if the Egyptian government is willing to go through the motions, many Egyptians are not. Angry over the Islamic repression the Brotherhood tried to impose on the secular middle class, and furious over the deaths of Egyptian soldiers and police at the hands of Brotherhood terrorists who flocked to Sinai last year, Hamas has faced a major backlash in public opinion, to the extent that many Egyptians are “rooting” for Israel to finish off Hamas.

Among those siding with Israel is the hostess of one of Egypt's most popular television programs, “Egypt Today.” On Sunday, Hiya Aldardiri said that “the Egyptian people understand very well who is set against them, and they understand that Egypt has no choice but to set its forces against the terrorists in Gaza.”

Aldardiri listed a number of terror attacks conducted by Hamas and its Brotherhood affiliates against Egyptians. In 2013, the Egyptian government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, one day after a deadly attack on a security building in the city of Mansoura killed 14 people and wounded more than 100 others.

“As Egyptians, we will never forget the day Hamas hurt the honor of Egypt when it sent its militias to take over the Mansoura building and killed Egyptians,” Aldardiri said. “They also killed Egyptians in Tahrir Square” when the Egyptian Army attempted to stem the Muslim Brotherhood's excesses.

“We blame Hamas for everything that happened in the Muslim Brotherhood revolution, whose purpose was to cause the fall of Egypt,” she added.