Exclusive: ‘History has proved my father was right,’ late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s son tells Arab News

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Updated 06 October 2021
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Exclusive: ‘History has proved my father was right,’ late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s son tells Arab News

  • Gamal El-Sadat discusses his father’s life and legacy in wide-ranging interview on the 40th anniversary of his assassination
  • He provides rare insight into the rationale behind Anwar Sadat’s decision to go to war and later pursue peace with Israel

CAIRO: On Oct. 6, 1981, Islamist extremists gunned down Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as he reviewed troops at a military parade in Cairo to celebrate the country’s 1973 war against Israel. Sadat’s bullet-riddled body was rushed to the Maadi Military Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:40 p.m. due to “intense nervous shock and internal bleeding in the chest cavity.”

Two years earlier, Sadat had become the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel — a decision that angered many Egyptians and led to violent demonstrations against him. But the assassination of Sadat did not derail the peace process, which continued without him, with Egypt formally establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in 1982.

In an exclusive interview ahead of the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Gamal El-Sadat, son of Anwar Sadat and chairman of Etisalat Misr, spoke with Arab News about his father’s political legacy, the values he learned from his father, and his memory of that fateful day.

“I was traveling in the US at that time with a couple of my friends,” Gamal El-Sadat said, referring to his location on Oct. 6, 1981. “I had just arrived in Florida. It was a fishing trip that never happened. It was the only time that I had missed the parade.”

Back in Cairo, a group of officers wearing army uniforms and led by Khaled Al-Islambouli, a lieutenant in the Egyptian army, stopped in front of the parade’s reviewing stand. They then fired shots and threw grenades into a crowd of Egyptian government officials.

Anwar Sadat, who was shot four times, died two hours later as 10 other people were also killed in the attack.




Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shown in a photo taken February 11, 1981 during a private visit to Paris. (AFP/File Photo)

“In the morning, I woke up to a call from the resort manager telling me that there was a shooting in the parade and my father was hurt,” Gamal El-Sadat said. 

“I tried to call Cairo, with no luck, then turned the news on. The bulletin said that Anwar Sadat was hurt in his arm, but he was in stable condition. I kept trying to call Cairo until I reached my mother (Jehan Sadat) who told me directly ‘your father has passed away.’”

Jehan Sadat was sitting in the stands at the military parade, just a few meters away from her husband when the deadly attack unfolded.

Gamal El-Sadat remembers very clearly the events that took place immediately after his return to Cairo. His father’s autopsy had not been conducted yet. There was a theory at the time that Anwar Sadat’s murder might have been an inside job.

Gamal El-Sadat recalled arriving directly at the Sadat family home but something cropped up. “I received a call from the prime minister at the time, Dr. Fouad Mohideen, who told me that ‘we would like to have an autopsy done because there is a bullet that is lodged somewhere. We just need to verify because there is a theory that some of my father’s own bodyguards might have assassinated him.’”

Gamal El-Sadat said he would like to be present for the autopsy. 

“The autopsy concluded that when the shooting started, my father stood up and he took bullets in his arm and thigh. Those were not fatal,” he said.

“However, another bullet from an AK-74 assault rifle that was fired from one of the parade’s trucks had ricocheted off the counter in front of my father, took an upward trajectory to enter his chest. The bullet went through his heart and got stuck in his neck.

“This finding laid to rest all suspicions about my father’s murder being an inside job. Members of his security detail used to carry sidearms only.”

Less than two years before his killing, in an unprecedented move for an Arab leader, Anwar Sadat traveled to seek a permanent peace settlement with Israel after decades of conflict.

Sadat’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and address to Israel's parliament were met with outrage in most of the Arab world. The global reaction was different: Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for peace.

Gamal El-Sadat said: “Before going to Jerusalem, my father went to Syria when he met President (Hafez) Assad to invite the Syrian leader to join him. President Assad was a dear friend of my father but he said ‘No, I will not come with you.’ So, my father told him, ‘Please, I ask you to give me your permission to speak on your behalf. If I fail, it will be me who failed. If I succeed, then we will both succeed.’ But Assad told him ‘No, I will not give you permission to do that as well.’ So, my father left and was very unhappy because it was an offer that had no downsides for Syria at the time.”

Gamal El-Sadat continued: “My father believed that the military had finished its role; there was no way we were going to go any further with the military. It had to be political. It had to be diplomacy. …  He had no other choice. (He could not be) the man who looked out for his own fame and kept saying ‘I will throw (the Israelis) into the sea’ and got the support of all the countries, yet not do anything in the end, because nobody was going to throw (the Israelis) into the sea because their safety was guaranteed by the US and the Soviet Union.”

Despite criticism from Egypt’s regional allies, Sadat continued to pursue peace with Begin, and in September 1978 the two leaders met again in the US, where they negotiated an agreement with President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland.

The Camp David Accords, the first peace agreement between the state of Israel and one of its Arab neighbors, laid the groundwork for diplomatic and commercial relations.

The peace efforts were greeted with suspicion and hostility across the Arab world. In addition to being subjected to political, economic, and diplomatic sanctions, Egypt was also suspended from the Arab League and the body’s headquarters was temporarily moved from Cairo to the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

Today, besides Egypt, five other Arab countries — Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco — have established full diplomatic relations with Israel.




Sadat was portrayed as "The Hero of the Crossing" following the 1973 war with Israel, which gave him a huge bump in status and popularity. (Getty Images)

“When my father came to office as president after Gamal Abdel Nasser, he made several proposals for peace with Israel, but they were never met with any seriousness,” Gamal El-Sadat said. 

“They were completely disregarded, and he came to understand that the world only listens to power. It was the October war that demonstrated that Egypt would not keep silent regarding Israel’s occupation of its territory.”

Gamal El-Sadat rejects the notion, however, that Egypt did not emerge victorious in the 1973 war. 

“The Israelis crossed over to the western side of the Suez Canal, yes,” he said. “They tried to take Suez but could not take Suez, which was a civilian city. And they could not go any further west. The Egyptian reserves blocked the west.”

Gamal El-Sadat continued: “My father understood the (necessity of the) peace deal earlier. He knew that wars were not going to solve the issue. He wanted other Arab countries to join Egypt in the Camp David Accord, and history has shown his vision to be right. Now Arab countries have begun to build strong relations with Israel as they have started to understand that the only solution is politics and dialogue.”

Gamal El-Sadat cited the generosity shown by Anwar Sadat to the dying shah of Iran as proof of the principles his father lived by. Their friendship dated back to the 1970s when Mohamed Reza Pahlavi stood by Egypt during the 1973 war with Israel and sent medical aid and doctors.




The coffin of late Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat is transported on a gun carriage during his funeral 10 October 1981 in Cairo. (AFP/File Photo)

After being overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the ailing shah moved between Morocco, the Bahamas, Mexico, the US, and Panama. He then took refuge in Egypt on March 24, 1980, after being received by President Sadat.

Gamal El-Sadat said: “My father did not want to make an enemy of anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings. But he could not deny (the fact) that this man stood by Egypt — not by my father, but by Egypt in its time of need.”

For Gamal El-Sadat, Anwar Sadat was of course not just a president of Egypt whose place in history is recognized and secure. He also remembers his father as a kind and simple person.

“I am biased because I am his son, but I believe this statement is true,” Gamal El-Sadat said. “Anwar Sadat was a man in touch with reality. He had lived a hard life and understood what it was to be poor. He appreciated life and understood that life has so many aspects other than money and politics.”

Indeed, Anwar Sadat’s personal history simply reflected the tortuous history of Egypt itself in the 20th century. He was born into a peasant family in the Nile Delta. He joined the Egyptian army, took the side of the Axis powers during World War II, and participated in activism against the British, who imprisoned him.

Anwar Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and a close confidant of Nasser, under whom he served as vice president twice and whom he eventually succeeded as president in 1970.

“My father was a religious person and very humble,” Gamal El-Sadat told Arab News. “He taught me and my siblings to love our country, and always respect people regardless of their position or station. He used to pray with poor people to show me that we are all alike.”

Until her death from cancer at the age of 88 in July, Jehan Sadat spent much of her life dedicated to promoting social justice and female empowerment in Egypt. Long before she became a global public figure, Jehan helped lead a campaign to reform Egypt’s status law which would go on to grant women new rights to divorce their husbands and retain custody of their children.

She was frequently photographed alongside her husband on official visits abroad and in more intimate settings, at home with their family.

Jehan Sadat would go on to earn a master’s and doctorate degree in comparative literature and, in her later years, took on lecturing posts in Cairo and the US.

“Jehan Sadat was a public figure during Sadat’s time and afterward,” Gamal El-Sadat said. “She was really a strong lady. After my father passed away, she would not sit back and stay at home. She continued her career and got a Ph.D. in Arabic literature, traveled to the US, and started teaching as a visiting professor.

“She used to promote women’s rights in our part of the world. She kept doing so until very recent years when she decided to spend more time with her family.”

Jehan Sadat was just 46 when Anwar Sadat was assassinated. She spent the rest of her life trying to preserve his legacy of peace through her travels and lectures around the world.


Israel strikes south Lebanon, Aoun holds urgent talks to halt attacks

Updated 51 min 19 sec ago
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Israel strikes south Lebanon, Aoun holds urgent talks to halt attacks

  • Hezbollah field commander killed, civilians injured in 19 airstrikes across Nabatieh area
  • Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh and said the government was aiming to ‘put an end to the Israeli violations as soon as possible’

BEIRUT: Israel conducted heavy airstrikes in south Lebanon on Thursday, hitting targets north of the Litani River in violation of a US-brokered truce.

Following the strikes in the Nabatieh region, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun held urgent talks with high-level foreign contacts to halt the Israeli violations.

The airstrikes killed one person, reportedly a senior Hezbollah military leader, and led to multiple injuries, sparking panic in schools, universities and among residents.

Aoun followed up on security developments with army chief Gen. Rodolphe Haikal, receiving reports on the areas struck by the Israeli bombardment.

The Ministry of Health said that the initial death toll of the Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of Nabatieh was one, with eight injured.

A source familiar with Aoun’s communications told Arab News: “The president’s contacts primarily involved the US and French sides, as they are sponsors of the ceasefire agreement and key members of the committee overseeing its implementation.”

The president reportedly called on the US and France “to pressure Israel to halt its attacks,” but the talks “did not yield any concrete guarantees.”

Israeli jets launched about 19 airstrikes on the area between Kfar Tebnit, Jabal Ali Taher, Nabatieh Al-Fawqa and Kafr Rumman, forming what resembled a ring of fire.

Containing valleys, hills and forests, the area is located about 4 km from the city of Nabatieh, which itself is 56 km from Beirut.

The unprecedented Israeli attack on the region, untouched since the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah took effect on Nov. 27, specifically targeted the Ali Taher area, considered a Hezbollah-controlled security zone.

Hezbollah reportedly lost one of its top military commanders, Abu Hussein Shahrour, who, according to reporters in the region, “was one of the party’s key fighters and played a pivotal role in the 1997 Sajd operation against the Israeli occupation.”

According to Israeli media, a “senior source” in the Israeli army said the military “attacked a significant target in southern Lebanon, consisting of underground infrastructure.”

Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the target “was used to manage the fire and defense systems of the Hezbollah terrorist organization.”

According to Adraee, the airstrikes “targeted personnel, combat equipment and wells. The site in question was part of a strategic underground project and was put out of service as a result of the strikes.”

He added that “the site and activities there are a blatant violation of the understanding between Israel and Lebanon.”

The Israeli army “will continue to act to eliminate any threat to Israel’s security and will prevent any attempt to rebuild Hezbollah’s capabilities,” Adraee said.

The Israeli army’s Northern Command said it would maintain its “offensive policy” against Hezbollah.

The airstrikes and massive explosions triggered loud bangs that echoed throughout Nabatieh and the south.

Residents near the targeted areas rushed to evacuate their children from schools, and most official departments shut down.

Later, the Israeli army opened fire with machine guns on a civilian vehicle on the Odaisseh-Kafr Kila road in the border area.

The car sustained damage. However, the female driver and her daughter escaped unharmed.

Meanwhile, in the morning, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets on several areas in the south, resembling banknote-like papers that carried incendiary phrases against Hezbollah. These included: “Hezbollah’s dollar is haram (forbidden in Islam) and will not benefit you after it destroyed your house and displaced your family.”

Another said: “Do not miscalculate things and do not accept the yellow dollar.”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh and said the government was aiming to “put an end to the Israeli violations as soon as possible.”

He added: “The government has spared no diplomatic effort to stop these actions and ensure Israel’s withdrawal from the hills it still occupies.”

Salam, accompanied by a ministerial delegation, traveled to Baalbek in the morning on a Lebanese army helicopter and inspected the border plains with Syria.

He has repeatedly called for Lebanon to ramp up its border security.

Salam called for strengthened security measures during a security meeting at Baalbek Serail, highlighting the need to “maintain stability and ensure successful municipal elections with complete transparency and integrity” throughout the governorate.

Meeting with local representatives, the premier announced progress on establishing a cannabis regulatory authority, describing it as a pathway “to transition toward a development-based economy benefiting regional residents.”

Salam was unequivocal that “neither security nor development can function through arbitrary measures.”

He highlighted the urgent need to resolve transportation challenges between Beirut and the Bekaa Valley, while advocating for Baalbek’s restoration as a premier tourist destination in Lebanon.

Salam also visited the Masnaa border crossing with Syria, receiving detailed security briefings from military personnel on site.

“The Masnaa crossing serves as a vital gateway for both the Bekaa and Lebanon as a whole. It must operate according to the highest technical and security standards rather than succumbing to disorder or discretionary practices,” Salam said.

He added that advanced scanning equipment would soon be installed “to facilitate goods movement, enhance transparency and enable properly regulated land exports of Lebanese products.”

Salam said that transforming the border crossing “from a vulnerability into a symbol of state effectiveness” represents a critical first step in broader reforms.

“This is where change begins — with Lebanon fully reclaiming control of its borders and converting them into gateways for legitimacy and order, not channels for chaos and violations.”


Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont

Updated 08 May 2025
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Released Palestinian student to help launch immigrant legal aid initiative in Vermont

  • Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison
  • “We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters

VERMONT: A Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping to launch an initiative to help other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.
Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees.
Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest.
“Justice is inevitable. We will not fear anyone because our fight is a fight for love, a fight for democracy, a fight for humanity,” Mahdawi told supporters outside the courthouse last week.
He will join Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak, Senate Majority Leader Kesha Ram Hinsdale and community advocates at the Statehouse to announce the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund. The group, which also includes lawyers and philanthropists, says the goal is to improve access to legal advice for immigrants and build long-term infrastructure within the justice system as it pertains to immigration law.
Members of Vermont’s congressional delegation have spoken up on Mahdawi’s behalf, as have state politicians. Vermont’s House and Senate passed resolutions condemning the circumstances of his detention and advocating for his release and due process rights.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott has said there is no justification for the manner in which Mahdawi was arrested, at an immigration office in Colchester.
“Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,” the governor said the next day. “The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.”
Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident, was born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. At Columbia, he organized campus protests and co-founded the Palestinian Student Union with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the US and graduate student who was arrested in March.
His release, which is being challenged by the government, allows him to travel outside of his home state of Vermont and attend his graduation from Columbia in New York later this month.


UN chief voices ‘grave concern’ after Sudan’s aid hub rocked by 5 days of drone attacks

Updated 08 May 2025
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UN chief voices ‘grave concern’ after Sudan’s aid hub rocked by 5 days of drone attacks

  • Port Sudan is the country’s main entry point for humanitarian aid
  • Country’s brutal civil war has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions

NEW YORK CITY: The UN secretary-general has voiced “grave concern” over repeated drone attacks on the eastern Sudanese city of Port Sudan, the country’s main entry point for humanitarian aid.

The city faced a new drone strike on Thursday for the fifth consecutive day amid a fierce confrontation between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.

The attacks have led to an exodus of civilians from the city, which hosts UN offices and aid agencies, and is the seat of power of the army-backed government.

Sudanese army officials have blamed the RSF for the strikes, which have targeted the city’s port, largest operational fuel depot, central power station and airport, among other sites.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said on Wednesday.

“The secretary-general is alarmed at the expansion of the conflict into an area that has served as a place of refuge for large numbers of people displaced from the capital, Khartoum, and other areas,” he added.

Sudan’s brutal two-year-long civil war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million.

The conflict has created “the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded,” the International Rescue Committee has said.

“The secretary-general reiterates that all parties to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law,” Dujarric said.

“They must not direct attacks against civilians and civilian objects; must take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental civilian casualties; and must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need.”

Almost all humanitarian aid enters the Northeast African country through Port Sudan.

The Chinese Embassy in Sudan on Thursday called on all Chinese citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.

Guterres is “concerned at the lack of political will of the parties to return to the negotiating table, preferring instead to continue pursuing their military objectives,” Wednesday’s statement said.

“The secretary-general calls on the parties to engage constructively with the mediation support mechanisms already in place to assist the parties to reach a political solution, underscoring the UN’s continued support to help find a way out of this crisis. 

“He renews his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities and stresses that dialogue is the only way to achieve the peace that the people of Sudan demand.”


Syria believed to make no purchase in 100,000 T wheat tender, traders say

Updated 08 May 2025
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Syria believed to make no purchase in 100,000 T wheat tender, traders say

  • Traders said Syria could issue a new purchase tender soon
  • Shipment was sought within 45 days from the contract award

HAMBURG: A Syrian state grains agency is believed to have made no purchase in an international tender seeking 100,000 metric tons of milling wheat which closed in April, European traders said on Thursday.
Traders said Syria could issue a new purchase tender soon.
Shipment was sought within 45 days from the contract award.
Syria had bought about 100,000 tons of wheat in its previous tender reported on March 25, which was believed to be the first large purchase tender since the change of power in Syria late last year.
But the donation by Iraq of 220,000 tons of wheat to Syria was expected to be used for Syria’s immediate import requirements, traders said.


Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns

Updated 08 May 2025
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Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns

  • The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel

BEIJING: The Chinese embassy in Sudan on Thursday issued a statement urging Chinese citizens in the country to evacuate as soon as possible, citing deteriorating security situation and rising security risks.
The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel, and advised citizens to evacuate via ships to Saudi Arabia or available international flights, or to travel by land to Egypt.