Editing Gamal Abdel Nasser (section)

=== Assuming chairmanship of RCC ===
{{Main|Attempted assassination of Gamal Abdel Nasser}}
[[File:Liberation organization in Alexandria invitation to Nasser speech 26-10-1954.jpg|thumb|alt=A letter written in Arabic with the seal of the RCC at the top|Liberation organization in Alexandria invitation to Nasser speech 26 October 1954]]
[[File:Nasser mansheya incident.oga|thumb|Sound recording of 1954 assassination attempt on Nasser while he was addressing a crowd in Manshia, [[Alexandria]]. ]]
On 26 October 1954, Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdel-Latif [[Attempted assassination of Gamal Abdel Nasser|attempted to assassinate Nasser]] while he was delivering a speech in Alexandria, broadcast to the Arab world by radio, to celebrate the British military withdrawal. The gunman was {{convert|25|ft|m}} away from him and fired eight shots, but all missed Nasser. Panic broke out in the mass audience, but Nasser maintained his posture and raised his voice to appeal for calm.<ref name="Aburish55">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|pp=54–55}}</ref><ref name="Rogan228" /> With great emotion he exclaimed the following:

<blockquote>My countrymen, my blood spills for you and for Egypt. I will live for your sake and die for the sake of your freedom and honor. Let them kill me; it does not concern me so long as I have instilled pride, honor, and freedom in you. If Gamal Abdel Nasser should die, each of you shall be Gamal Abdel Nasser ... Gamal Abdel Nasser is of you and from you and he is willing to sacrifice his life for the nation.<ref name="Rogan228">{{Harvnb|Rogan|2011|p=228}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Nasser and RCC members welcomed by Alexandria, 1954.jpg|thumb|right|alt=A man standing in an open-top vehicle and waving to a crowd of people surrounding the vehicle. There are several men seated in the vehicle and in another trailing vehicle, all dressed in military uniform|Nasser greeted by crowds in Alexandria one day after his announcement of the British withdrawal and the assassination attempt against him, 27 October 1954.]]
The crowd roared in approval and Arab audiences were electrified. The assassination attempt backfired, quickly playing into Nasser's hands.<ref name="Aburish54">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=54}}</ref> Upon returning to Cairo, he ordered one of the largest political crackdowns in the modern history of Egypt,<ref name="Aburish54" /> with the arrests of thousands of dissenters, mostly members of the Brotherhood, but also communists, and the dismissal of 140 officers loyal to Naguib.<ref name="Aburish54" /> Eight Brotherhood leaders were sentenced to death,<ref name="Aburish54" /> although the sentence of its chief ideologue, [[Sayyid Qutb]], was commuted to a 15-year imprisonment.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brown|2000|p=159}}</ref> Naguib was removed from the presidency and put under house arrest, but was never tried or sentenced, and no one in the army rose to defend him. With his rivals neutralized, Nasser became the undisputed leader of Egypt.<ref name="Rogan228" />

Nasser's street following was still too small to sustain his plans for reform and to secure him in office.<ref name="Aburish56">{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=56}}</ref> To promote himself and the Liberation Rally, he gave speeches in a cross-country tour,<ref name="Aburish56" /> and imposed controls over the country's [[Egyptian newspapers|press]] by decreeing that all publications had to be approved by the party to prevent "sedition".<ref name="AtiyehOweiss331–2">{{Harvnb|Atiyeh|Oweis|1988|pp=331–332}}</ref> Both [[Umm Kulthum]] and [[Abdel Halim Hafez]], the leading Arab singers of the era, performed songs praising Nasser's nationalism. Others produced plays denigrating his political opponents.<ref name="Aburish56" /> According to his associates, Nasser orchestrated the campaign himself.<ref name="Aburish56" /> [[Arab nationalist]] terms such "Arab homeland" and "Arab nation" frequently began appearing in his speeches in 1954–55, whereas prior he would refer to the Arab "peoples" or the "Arab region".<ref>{{Harvnb|Jankowski|2001|p=32}}</ref> In January 1955, the RCC appointed him as their president, pending national elections.<ref name="Aburish56" />
[[File:Copts-with-Nasser-1965.jpg|thumb|President Nasser receives a delegation of Christian bishops from [[Dakahlia Governorate|Dakahlia]], [[Qena]], [[Qus]] and [[Sohag]] (1965)]]
Nasser made secret contacts with Israel in 1954–55, but determined that peace with Israel would be impossible, considering it an "expansionist state that viewed the Arabs with disdain".<ref>{{Harvnb|Aburish|2004|p=239}}</ref> On 28 February 1955, Israeli troops [[Operation Black Arrow|attacked]] the Egyptian-held Gaza Strip with the stated aim of suppressing [[Palestinian fedayeen]] raids. Nasser did not feel that the Egyptian Army was ready for a confrontation and did not retaliate militarily. His failure to respond to Israeli military action demonstrated the ineffectiveness of his armed forces and constituted a blow to his growing popularity.<ref name="Rasler38">{{Harvnb|Rasler|Thompson|Ganguly|2013|pp=38–39}}</ref><ref name="Dekmeijan44">{{Harvnb|Dekmejian|1971|p=44}}</ref> Nasser subsequently ordered the tightening of the [[Israeli passage through the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran|blockade on Israeli shipping through the Straits of Tiran]] and restricted the use of airspace over the [[Gulf of Aqaba]] by Israeli aircraft in early September.<ref name="Rasler38" /> The Israelis re-militarized the [[Auja al-Hafir|al-Auja Demilitarized Zone]] on the Egyptian border on 21 September.<ref name="Dekmeijan44" />

Simultaneous with Israel's February raid, the [[Baghdad Pact]] was formed between some regional allies of the UK. Nasser considered the Baghdad Pact a threat to his efforts to eliminate British military influence in the Middle East, and a mechanism to undermine the [[Arab League]] and "perpetuate [Arab] subservience to Zionism and [Western] imperialism".<ref name="Rasler38" /> Nasser felt that if he was to maintain Egypt's regional leadership position he needed to acquire modern weaponry to arm his military. When it became apparent to him that [[Western world|Western countries]] would not supply Egypt under acceptable financial and military terms,<ref name="Rasler38" /><ref name="Dekmeijan44" /><ref name="Kandil45-6">{{Harvnb|Kandil|2012|pp=45–46}}</ref> Nasser turned to the [[Eastern Bloc]] and concluded a {{currency|320 million|USD}} armaments agreement with [[Czechoslovakia]] on 27 September.<ref name="Rasler38" /><ref name="Dekmeijan44" /> Through the [[Egyptian-Czech arms deal|Czechoslovakian arms deal]], the balance of power between Egypt and Israel was more or less equalized and Nasser's role as the Arab leader defying the West was enhanced.<ref name="Dekmeijan44" /> The arms deal led to increased unease in the United States, where Nasser was compared to [[Benito Mussolini]] and [[Adolf Hitler]], causing it to strengthen its relations with Israel and become more wary of Egypt as a result.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=McAlexander |first1=Richard J. |date=18 November 2010 |title=Couscous Mussolini: US perceptions of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the 1958 intervention in Lebanon and the origins of the US–Israeli special relationship |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14682745.2010.482960?role=button&needAccess=true&journalCode=fcwh20 |journal=[[Cold War History (journal)|Cold War History]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=363–385 |doi=10.1080/14682745.2010.482960 |s2cid=153604066 |access-date=4 March 2023 |issn=1468-2745}}</ref>