GOVERNMENT

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

President of Egypt

Lauded by some observers as a pragmatic moderate and by others as a dictator with a poor human rights record, Egypt’s strongman ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made clear his intention to strengthen relations with neighboring Israel. In particular, el-Sisi wants to strengthen the commercial and economic ties that enjoyed a boost in 2022 when, in a bid to stave off an energy crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Israel and Egypt reached an agreement with the EU for the provision of natural gas to the bloc. In November, el-Sisi met with US President Joe Biden on the fringes of the COP 27 Summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh, with Biden stressing the long-standing “common understanding” between the two countries. (Photo: Wikimedia / Creative Commons License)