WASHINGTON: Egypt has asked CBS not to air an interview with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in which he discussed cooperation with Israel in the fight against Sinai extremists, the US network said.
The network said on its website Thursday that El-Sisi — a former army chief and defense minister — made the remarks in a taped interview due to air for its 60 Minutes program on Sunday.
“Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi sat down with Scott Pelley to make news on 60 Minutes and did when he confirmed his military was working with Israel against terrorists in North Sinai,” CBS said.
Asked if this cooperation was the closest ever between the former enemies, El-Sisi said, “That is correct... We have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis,” according to the CBS website.
Afterwards, the Egyptian ambassador to the United States contacted the 60 Minutes team to tell them “the interview could not be aired,” the network said.
CBS said it would go ahead regardless on Sunday and air “the interview Egypt’s government doesn’t want on TV.”
Egypt has been battling an insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula for years. Violence intensified following the overthrow of president Muhammad Mursi by the army then headed by El-Sisi in 2013.
In February, the security forces launched a major operation aimed at wiping out the local affiliate of Daesh which has been spearheading the insurgency in the Sinai.
The same month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would do “whatever is necessary to defend ourselves” after the New York Times reported that Israeli aircraft had carried out dozens of cross-border strikes against terrorists in the Sinai.
The Egyptians are battling an estimated 1,000 Daesh-affiliated extremists and are letting Israel attack them from the air, CBS said.
Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, but relations remain sensitive due to hostility toward the Jewish state among their populations.
CBS posted on its website an excerpt of the interview in which El-Sisi is asked how many “political prisoners” Egypt is holding.
The Egyptian president, speaking in Arabic, replies: “We don’t have any political prisoners or prisoners of opinion. We are trying to stand against extremists who impose their ideology on the people.”
He also dismissed a report by Human Rights Watch that said Egyptian authorities “have arrested or charged probably at least 60,000 people” since the 2013 military coup that ousted Mursi.
“I don’t know where they got that figure. I said there are no political prisoners in Egypt.”
El-Sisi came to power in 2014, a year after he overthrew Mursi following mass protests against the Muslim Brotherhood leader’s rule.
Human rights groups say the former defense chief has since installed a repressive and authoritarian regime.
Egypt wants CBS to drop El-Sisi interview on Israel cooperation: network
Egypt wants CBS to drop El-Sisi interview on Israel cooperation: network
- Egypt has been battling an insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula for years
- Violence intensified following the overthrow of president Muhammad Mursi by the army then headed by El-Sisi in 2013
MenaML hosts 2026 Winter School in Saudi Arabia to boost AI education, collaboration in region
- Second edition of Winter School will be hosted in partnership with KAUST
DUBAI: The Middle East and North Africa Machine Learning Winter School will host its second edition in Saudi Arabia this year, in partnership with the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
The non-profit held its inaugural edition in Doha last year in partnership with the Qatar Computing Research Institute.
The initiative began when like-minded individuals from Google DeepMind and QCRI came together to launch a platform connecting a “community of top-tier AI practitioners with a shared interest in shaping the future of the MENA region,” Sami Alabed, a research scientist at Google DeepMind and one of the co-founders of MenaML, told Arab News.
Along with Alabed, the core team includes Maria Abi Raad and Amal Rannen-Triki from Google DeepMind, as well as Safa Messaoud and Yazan Boshmaf from QCRI.
Messaoud said that the school has three goals: building local talent in artificial intelligence, enhancing employability and connection, and reversing brain drain while fostering regional opportunity.
AI has dominated boardrooms and courtrooms alike globally, but “AI research and education in MENA are currently in a nascent, yet booming, stage,” she added.
Launched at a pivotal moment for the region, the initiative was timed to ensure “regional representation in the global AI story while cultivating AI models that are culturally aligned,” said Rannen-Triki.
The school’s vision is to cultivate researchers capable of developing “sophisticated, culturally aligned AI models” that reflect the region’s values and linguistic and cultural diversity, said Messaoud.
This approach, she added, enables the region to contribute meaningfully to the global AI ecosystem while ensuring that AI technologies remain locally relevant and ethically grounded.
MenaML aims to host its annual program in a different city each year, partnering with reputable institutions in each host location.
“Innovation does not happen in silos; breakthroughs are born from collaboration that extends beyond borders and lab lines,” said Alabed.
“Bringing together frontier labs to share their knowledge echoes this message, where each partner brings a unique viewpoint,” he added.
This year, MenaML has partnered with KAUST, which “offers deep dives into specialized areas critical to the region, blending collaborative spaces with self-learning and placement programs,” said Abi Raad.
The program, developed in partnership with KAUST, brings together speakers from 16 institutions and focuses on four key areas: AI and society, AI and sciences, AI development, and regional initiatives.
“These themes align with the scientific priorities and research excellence pillars of KAUST as well as the needs of regional industries seeking to deploy AI safely and effectively,” said Bernard Ghanem, professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science at KAUST and director of the Center of Excellence in Generative AI.
The program will also highlight efficiency in AI systems, with the overall goal of equipping “participants with the conceptual and practical understanding needed to contribute meaningfully to next-generation AI research and development,” he told Arab News.
For KAUST, hosting the MenaML Winter School aligns with Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global hub for AI research under Vision 2030.
By attracting top researchers, industry partners, and young talent to the Kingdom, it helps cement the Kingdom’s position as a center for AI excellence, Ghanem said.
It also aligns closely with Vision 2030’s “goals of building human capital, fostering innovation, and developing a knowledge-based economy” and “contributes to the long-term development of a world-leading AI ecosystem in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Although the program accepts students from around the world, participants must demonstrate a connection to the MENA region, Abi Raad said.
The goal is to build bridges between those who may have left the region and those who remain, enabling them to start conversations and collaborate, she added.
A certain percentage of spots is reserved for participants from the host country, while a small percentage is allocated to fully international students with no regional ties, with the objective of offering them a glimpse into the regional AI ecosystem.
Looking ahead, MenaML envisions growing from an annual event into a sustainable, central pillar of the regional AI ecosystem, inspired by the growth trajectory of global movements like TED or the Deep Learning Indaba, a sister organization supporting AI research and education in Africa.
Boshmaf said MenaML’s long-term ambition is to evolve beyond its flagship event into a broader movement, anchored by local MenaMLx chapters across the region.
Over time, the initiative aims to play a central role in strengthening the regional AI ecosystem by working with governments and the private sector to support workforce development, AI governance and safety education, and collaborative research, while raising the region’s global visibility through its talent network and international partnerships.
He added: “If TED is the global stage for ‘ideas worth spreading,’ MenaML is to be the regional stage for ‘AI ideas worth building.’”
The MenaML Winter School will run from Jan. 24 to 29 at KAUST in Saudi Arabia.
