Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Egypt’s constitution would not be changed, warning that rumours and attempts to distort public awareness were being used to stir unrest and threaten the country’s stability.
Speaking Wednesday at the Armed Forces’ 44th cultural symposium, held to mark the 53rd anniversary of Egypt’s victory in the October War, President Sisi said the constitution had been approved by the Egyptian people and “no one will touch it.” He urged citizens to reject what he described as campaigns designed to manipulate public opinion and weaken the state.
“Protect your country against this conspiracy … I am not saying protect the president,” he said, framing the appeal as a responsibility shared by society and state institutions. He called on Egyptians of all ages to remain committed to their country and help raise awareness of what he described as efforts to undermine states from within.
President Sisi warned that unrest on the scale of the upheaval Egypt experienced in 2011 could have serious consequences for the state’s stability and its ability to endure. He said attempts to provoke public anger and distort facts had intensified in recent months, without identifying specific rumours or campaigns.
The president made historical memory a central theme of his remarks. He described it as a country’s first line of defence and warned that efforts to distort national history could make it harder for people to distinguish fact from falsehood. He pointed in particular to claims that question or diminish the significance of the 1973 October War, saying that media tools and modern technologies, especially social media, were being used to spread such narratives.
The symposium included a presentation on psychological warfare. President Sisi said that efforts to influence public attitudes had existed in the 1960s and 1970s, although the tools had changed. He argued that such campaigns continued to target Egyptians’ determination and said the challenges facing the country required vigilance.
The event’s focus on the October War also gave President Sisi an opportunity to draw a connection between the national effort of that period and the demands facing Egypt today. Before the 1973 war, he said, the armed forces worked continuously in preparation for battle. The national duty now, he added, was also to work.
President Sisi described economic reform as a long-running challenge, saying Egypt had pursued reform efforts since 1976 and was continuing to implement a programme intended to strengthen the economy and support development. He said economic challenges could be overcome, but stressed that preserving the state was more important. He also said the biggest challenge facing Egypt could take up to ten years to address, without specifying which challenge he meant or outlining a detailed timetable.
His remarks revisited the political upheavals of 2011 and 2013. President Sisi said Egypt had been preserved through those difficult turning points and given another chance to protect the state and restore its course. He urged citizens to remain alert and committed to the country, presenting national cohesion as essential to meeting both economic and political challenges.
The president’s comments brought together three themes: the constitutional order, the interpretation of national history and the risks of public unrest. He portrayed misinformation not merely as a problem of inaccurate claims, but as a threat to the public’s ability to understand events and make sound judgments about the country’s future.
His assurance that the constitution would not be touched was one of the speech’s clearest statements. He did not elaborate on constitutional procedures or address specific proposals for change. Instead, he placed the pledge within a broader appeal for stability, urging Egyptians to protect the country and resist what he described as attempts to weaken it.
The speech closed on a message of collective responsibility. Protecting Egypt, President Sisi said, was not about protecting the president but about safeguarding the state. He called on men and women, young and old, to remain devoted to their country and to help counter efforts that could, in his view, undermine its stability.
