There has been much speculation surrounding the current state of Egypt and how the continued revolution ultimately affects the United States. Senators such as John McCain are calling to suspend monetary aid to Egypt due to the law that stipulates the United States must disrupt all aid to any country that undergoes a military coup. I find it somewhat hard to label this situation as a military coup due to the fact that former President Morsi found it necessary to usurp many powers from other branches of the Egyptian government and consolidated those powers to be used exclusively by the executive branch (mainly Morsi). Some would say that action alone is enough to justify the “military coup,” but that’s not really the issue that needs to be discussed when our leaders start to think about what needs to happen concerning the military aid we give to Egypt.

In September 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Accords that started a then unprecedented peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The Camp David treaty however, was contingent upon one main thing; U.S. aid to Egypt. Keep in mind that Egypt and Israel were in a perpetual state of war since Israel was created. But this peace treaty would keep each country in their respective corners and usher in a new era of peace and cooperation between the two states. But now that Egypt is experiencing a political upheaval that is labeled as a military coup, this crucial relationship between the two countries could be disrupted if the money is cut off.  The Israelis are lobbying heavily to keep the aid going to Egypt to keep the Camp David accords in place but with people such as John McCain who apparently don’t see or understand the whole situation concerning Egypt, peace relations between Egypt and Israel are no longer concrete.

The Egyptian situation is not a black and white issue; there are many gray areas to it. There will be no easy solution as the Egyptian people fight to create the country they can be proud to be a part of. I am not saying aid to Egypt should never be disrupted, but Egypt is going through something very similar to what our founding fathers experienced- revolution, and in revolution things will get ugly, but our leaders must look at the greater picture before making drastic decisions that can cause major foreign policy relations to be dissolved.