Mideast: The Rafah Crossing Smuggler Has A New Political Party

Ibrahim Al-Organi is a well-known name in Egypt but less so elsewhere. This year, he made headlines for his political support and financial backing of a newly announced political party in Egypt. A business mogul based in the Sinai Peninsula, Al-Organi has risen to prominence in the last decade. 

The new political party will be called the Egyptian National Union or Egyptian National Front. It appears to be supported by several high-ranking government officials and influential businessmen in the country. Egyptian Housing Minister Assem El Gazzar is the spokesperson most often credited with the announcement.

Al-Organi’s relationships in politics and governance come from a tumultuous relationship with the Egyptian state. He was imprisoned under Hosni Bumarak’s administration after authorities murdered his brother under suspicious circumstances, and in retaliation, Al-Organi began detaining police officers in Sinai. After the revolution of 2011, Al-Organi was freed. He led the Union of Sinai Tribes, which was essentially a militant coalition of Bedouin tribes in the Sinai Peninsula, who, under his leadership, aided the government in battling terrorist groups. After the revolution of 2011, jihadists, members of ISIS, and Hamas allies began infiltrating and joining up with the smaller criminal gangs in Sinai to be close to Israel. Al-Organi made it his business to convince Bedouin tribes that these groups were false friends and to battle them ruthlessly. 

Al-Organi is from the Tarabin tribe in Northern Sinai, one of Egypt’s biggest Bedouin tribes. As one of a few Egyptian leaders who personally assisted the Egyptian military in purging the Sinai peninsula of terrorists, he gained respect and connections in the Sisi administration. 

Soon, he founded the Organi Group, which consolidated further his power over Sinai and the border with Gaza and Israel. 

Financially, he has had an amazing couple of years. One of his companies, Hala, markets itself as a travel company when it’s really more of a coyote cartel. Interestingly, the Egyptian Intelligence Service partially owns and solely oversees it. Hala specializes in getting Palestinians across the Rafah border into Egypt. The costs are exorbitant and appear to rise during wartime, when more desperate people are fleeing. 

A quick glance at GoFundMe reveals the extent to which Gazans are seeking financial assistance so that they might flee into Egypt. Outside financial assistance is necessary. Al-Organi’s company charges USD 5,000 to exit the strip and enter Egypt, and USD 2,500 for children under 16. Some sources say that at the war’s peak, the cost rose to USD 10,000. 

The timing of Al-Organi’s new party is surely not a coincidence. This year, over 100,000 Gazans fled to Egypt. Al-Organi’s company does not publicize the number of Gazans they charged with coordination fees, but even without the hard numbers, it is a safe assumption that they made a lot of money from this exodus. Even if only half of the people who have fled actually paid the fees, and if all of them paid at the rate of a child, it would still generate USD 125,000,000 in revenue. 

Al-Organi has mastered not only the flow of people out of Gaza but also supplies into Gaza. Aid organizations anonymously complained of having to pay up to USD 5,000 per truck to get resources into the enclave. 

Sons of Sinai and Hala are both part of the Organi Group. There are eight businesses in total that Al-Organi holds in his partnership. The Egyptian military, intelligence service, and development agencies are all invested in his companies too. Al-Organi’s close relationship with the current authority in Egypt started recently, in the 2010s, when Al-Organi’s Union of Sinai Tribes aligned themselves with the Egyptian military to battle ISIS-affiliated groups in the Sinai Peninsula. Al-Organi began to be treated as a legitimate partner of the Egyptian government and a trusted leader. 

Al-Organi’s rise to success and power was one of physical prowess. From a convict rebel to a business magnate, he has always succeeded at bending the will of the Sinai peninsula in his favor through sheer strength. His profiteering at the border of Gaza has made him titanically successful, especially in the wake of the war. He has exploited and profited off of the suffering of Gazans more than almost anyone in the world. 

Now, he is beginning this political party, the Egyptian National Front. He plans to consolidate support from his government allies into a regime-loyal political militia. He is a friend of Sisi and receives generous accolades and respected positions from President Sisi’s administration, but that does not preclude his own ambitions. 

The criminal turned militant leader turned business executive turned politician has a simpler moniker: warlord. Ibrahim al-Organi may not be well known outside of Egypt and Palestine, but he soon will be. His ambitions are high, and he now sits on a large treasure chest extorted from desperate refugees and the humanitarians who came to their rescue.