The breadth of this support is difficult
to estimate, especially because the government has restricted the
movement’s freedom. It is a mainstream and moderate move-
ment, especially when compared with some of Egypt’s other
Islamist groups. These include Islamic Jihad, which assassinated
President Sadat in retaliation for his peacemaking with Israel,
and the al-Gama’at al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group), which carried
out a series of attacks on foreign tourists in Egypt in the 1990s.
In striking at Egypt’s vital tourist industry, these militants hoped
to destabilize and perhaps cause the downfall of the Mubarak
regime. Millions of Egyptians depend economically in some way
on tourism. For this reason, the Islamic Group lost much popu-
lar sympathy when, in 1997, it carried out a gruesome assault on
foreign tourists at an ancient Egyptian temple in Luxor result-
ing in the deaths of 58 people. Prior to that, Egypt’s Islamists
had enjoyed growing public support by coming to the aid of
Egyptians in need. In the wake of the 1992 Cairo earthquake,
for example, the group provided emergency services while the
government response was slow and inadequate.