# The Egyptian berm

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Egyptian berm," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-egyptian-berm/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The earthwork Egypt built along its Gaza frontier more than a year before July 2025, which John Kiriakou describes as a defence not against Palestinians but against Israel, built because Cairo feared the border being thrown open from the other side, and because Egyptian troops would not fire on two million people.*

- **What:** An earth barrier on the Egyptian side of the Gaza frontier
- **Built:** More than a year before July 2025
- **Purpose, per Kiriakou:** To stop Israel throwing the border open and pushing Gazans into Sinai
- **Egypt''s stated position:** The border will not open under any circumstances
- **Why not:** Opening it would make Egypt complicit in ethnic cleansing
- **The dilemma:** 'Do you just let people starve, or do you jump in on the side of the Israelis in cleansing Gaza?'

**The Egyptian berm** is the earth barrier Egypt constructed along its frontier with the Gaza Strip, which [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) cites as evidence that Cairo anticipated an Israeli attempt to force the Palestinian population of Gaza into Sinai.

## The pressure and the refusal

As [the famine](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gaza-famine) deepened in July 2025, Egypt came under what Kiriakou called *"real pressure today to open the border"*. Its answer was categorical: *"They have said that they're not opening the border under any circumstances."* The reason he gives is not indifference but complicity, *"if they open the border, they will be complicit with the ethnic cleansing."*[1]

He states the resulting dilemma without resolving it: *"Do you just let people starve, or do you jump in on the side of the Israelis in cleansing Gaza?"*[2]

## What the berm is for

Kiriakou's reading of the barrier reverses the obvious assumption about which direction it faces. *"The Egyptians aren't stupid. That's why they built that berm over a year ago,"* he says, because *"they're worried that the Israelis will throw open the border and then, you know, they won't be able to resist."*[2]

The constraint he identifies is on the Egyptian army rather than on Egyptian policy. Confronted with a mass movement of civilians pushed toward the crossing, Egyptian troops *"aren't going to want to and will not shoot two million people"*, so the barrier does the work the soldiers would not do.[2]

## See also

- [Famine in Gaza](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gaza-famine)
- [Proposals to relocate the Palestinians](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/proposals-to-relocate-the-palestinians)
- [Hamas](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/hamas)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-07-25), at 14:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RypVxybJzHo&t=845s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-25-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-07-25), at 14:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RypVxybJzHo&t=876s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-07-25-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-egyptian-berm/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt