Anwar Al Sadat, Egypt's President, Assassinated 30 Years Ago

Thirty years ago, on October 6, 1981, Egyptian president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Anwar Al Sadat was assassinated by fundamentalist army soldiers during a military parade in Cairo. Sadat took over power after the death of legendary Egyptian president Abdel Nasser in 1970 and would become the first Arab leader to broker peace with Israel.

After three wars and decades of tensions between Israel and the Arab states, Sadat made a landmark visit to Israel. That same year, Israel and Egypt started peace negotiations, and in 1974 leaders of both countries signed the Camp David Peace Accords. Sadat and then-Israeli president Menachem Begin would later receive the Nobel Peace Prize for the deal.

Below, see a timeline of major events in Sadat's life:

Comments

[Weeklong Zero]

08:17 PM on 10/07/2011

Here's the myth that we as a nation have been exposed to about our view of Sadat. "He was a peacemaker, a person who democratized Egypt, who was beloved by his people," All but the peacemaker thing was a complete lie. Sadat was just as much of an autocrat as his predecessor Nasser, and his Successor Mubarak. And when he died, the only tears shed in the Arab world were from his family, everyone else in the Arab world, especially Egypt despised him and was glad that he died. In comparison, when Nasser (a real Arab hero) died, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians in Cairo poured out on the streets mourning the man they saw as the symbol of Arab unity. Respectively millions of Arabs from across the Arab world did the same on their streets, from Morocco to Iraq all hailed Nasser as a hero. When Sadat came to power, he ended all of Nasser's socialist programs which ensured housing and food to the people, under pressure from the US. This lead to the starvation of thousands of Egyptians and the Bread Riots which killed about 800 protesters. Sadat was nothing more than a US puppet, Nasser was a real independent. Even thought Nasser was still a dictator he wanted to ensure that after he died a democratic system would be in place in Egypt, and hopefully thorough the rest of the Arab world. He was the real hero!

[squiems]

06:00 PM on 10/07/2011

A great man, a man of peace. The middle east would be a far better place if he or his like were still around.

[Json]

09:12 AM on 10/07/2011

Blessed are the peacemakers*

* - except those that make peace with jews. Those guys are traitors.

/snark (in case it wasn't obvious)

[messy]

07:01 PM on 10/06/2011

My mother was about to go on a lifelong dream trip to Egypt. The day before she was about to leave, Sadat was murdered and she never went.

[wom122]

06:51 PM on 10/06/2011

October 6 also happens to be the day when the Arab-Israeli war of 1973 started. The irony was that Sadat was assassinated while reviewing the troops marching to celebrate his "victory".

[fairwayhill]

06:50 PM on 10/06/2011

Making peace with Apartheid was Sadat's mistake - good thing the New Egypt is going to cancel that treaty and close the Suez canal to that entity.

[kasukabe]

11:47 PM on 10/06/2011

Funny how you have no problem with the real Apartheid that's practiced in every single Islamic nation yet you are utterly obsessed with denigrating the only nation in the entire middle east that actually gives a damn about democratic elections, an independent judiciary, gay rights, and free speech.

Gee I wonder what could be the root of your animosity towards the only Jewish state in the entire world?

[SaneUSA]

11:41 AM on 10/07/2011

Whoops, looks like someone needs to update your software,it's 2011...not 1956.

[fairwayhill]

06:46 PM on 10/06/2011

Sadat betrayed the Palestinians.

[kasukabe]

11:50 PM on 10/06/2011

Sadat realized that the only way forward was through peace. That the genocidal desires of fools like you to wipe Israel and the Jews off the map would only drag the entire middle east into an orgy of bloodshed and the Palestinian people into a cult of death that would rob them of any life regardless of what Israel did or didn't do.

But what the hell you don't live there so feel free to continue spouting your vile racism and bigotry while the rest of us work towards a practical and equitable two-state solution.

[Marcus047]

11:34 AM on 10/07/2011

Sadat's loyalty and responsibility wasn't to the palestinians, but to the egyptians. The palestinians have their own leadership and president to care for their needs (or not).

[caprawalie]

05:27 PM on 10/06/2011

Sadat might have been a hero of the West but what he said about the massive Egyptian army will not be forgotten by African nation. Sadat sayd,"The number one reason Egypt should maintain a big army is not Israel or any other of our endmies, but our river, the Nile". The riparian countries of Africa whom he believed he was threatening have now revoked the ancient and archaic colonial era document that alloted the lion's share of the Nile to Egypt and are building dams and other developments. Thus Sadat had a neo-colonial mentality and thus a hated personality in the continent of AFrica.

[LMPE]

01:49 PM on 10/06/2011

Didn't Sadat's assassination and Mubarak's subsequent ascension to the presidency result in the emergency law in Egypt?

[vippy]

12:49 PM on 10/06/2011

Very telling - someone did not like the Peace Process! As long as I can remember there was this conflict and someone is making beauquop money. I bet the Israelis and the Palestinians are both fed up with their politics!

[Gui Montag]

12:21 PM on 10/06/2011

I read some of his autobiography once. To be perfectly honest, it was a bit boring. He's still a great guy though.

[beam sean]

11:42 AM on 10/06/2011

The traitor to his people and everthing they stand for
Or maybe we can say an american puppet
He has done nothing for the people of egypt that a commoner couldnt do better- sold his soul and his country to the zionist

[messy]

07:02 PM on 10/06/2011

No, he was originally a Soviet puppet. He told the Soviet lies to Nasser as fact, and this sparked the 1967 war.

[Juttaanke]

11:37 AM on 10/06/2011

That's cold!!

[beckjr2000]

11:30 AM on 10/06/2011

"Anwar Al Sadat was assassinated by fundamentalist army soldiers..." Yes, The Muslim Brotherhood now known as the "Justice and Freedom Party." Very popular in and around Washington D.C. at this time. Can't you just feel Democracy breaking out in the Middle East? Neither can they!

[Pharcee]

06:09 AM on 10/08/2011

The west cant continue to demand democracy in other countries by force, then do their best to destroy the outcome.

[MohamadMasri]

10:32 AM on 10/06/2011

Good Riddance.... as we say in arabic " May God make his grave deeper" (to insinuate may he never see the light )

[myopinion2]

11:33 AM on 10/06/2011

That's sadly interesting -- do you say that because he made peace with israel.

[blutopie]

02:00 PM on 10/06/2011

Making peace with Apartheid was a real mistake - good thing the New Egypt is really putting the sc**ws to Israel

Israel will be forced to renegotiate a peace treaty that provides for Palestinian independence without any of the decades Israeli chicanary that trashed the Camp David Accords. On the other hand the One State Solution would take care of the problem completely and it is the solution of choice to avoid massive intra-Israeli civil conflict

The reason the One State Solution is becoming the most popular amongst Israelis is because they don't want to go thru the unimaginable ferocity of intra-Israeli conflict (settler vs IDF) were the Israeli government ever try to make a Two State Settlement - as you well know

Check these two references out from Israeli sources:

'Dozens of settlers surround IDF patrol in West Bank and assault soldiers'
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/dozens-of-settlers-surround-idf-patrol-in-west-bank-and-assault-soldiers-1.388594

and

A society coming apart at the seams: Settlers attack IDF in the West Bank
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/10/a-society-coming-aparts-at-the-seams-settlers-attack-idf-in-the-west-bank.html

[anton123]

01:14 PM on 10/06/2011

Nobody would remember your pitiful life for sure. :)
Sadat was a great Man and Leader. And I don't remember any other Arab leader over last 40 years that come even close.
May he Rest In Peace.

[myopinion2]

02:03 PM on 10/06/2011

It's depressing that the one Arab leader willing to make peace is hated by the hate mongers, precisely because he made peace. These posters don't want peace; they want victory. Hamasites.