Egypt’s military junta so stubbornly denied that the recent bombing of a Russian Metrojet plane over the Sinai Peninsula was an act of terrorism that they didn’t even initiate their own investigation into the attack until a week after the plane went down, and then only after several nations banned flights to the region. Publicly, much of the leadership still doesn’t acknowledge even the possibility of an ISIS attack.
This narrative appears to be getting broadly embraced by the Egyptian media, as several are now claiming that not only was there no bomb on the plane, but that Western nations invented the idea of a bombing as a plot to undermine the junta and “scare off tourists.”
Various outlets, both state-run and the private media that the junta hasn’t shut down yet, are advancing this as a broad Western “conspiracy” against Egypt, and are labeling Western reports of the plane being bombed as “terrorism” against Egypt.
Though claims of conspiracies against the junta are not uncommon in Egypt, in this particular case it seems unusually bizarre, as the intelligence pointed toward ISIS bombing the plane has overwhelming come from Israel and the United States, two of the nations most supportive of the nation’s 2013 military coup, which installed the current junta.
suggest speculation should stop until the conclusion of the investigation. [..] accuse Britain and the US of a rush to judgement
That bit seems more like the real conflict between the two. Perhaps independently of what may or may not be most likely to have happened, both want some control of narrative… Either would lie if it suits them, I'd imagine. Some of the Egyptian press rhetoric described seems like panicked scrambling to kiss some Sisi a —er— patooty…what with all the regime's death sentences since it's install.
This is probably domestic politics. The bombing probably destroys Sharm el-Sheikh as a holiday resort, probably Hurghada as well, if not the whole inward tourism industry. That could lead to El-Sisi being overthrown.
Al Sisi is not exactly a rubber stamp. He's an independent player who's as tight with Moscow as he is with Washington. He's also reversed Egypt's relations with Damascus, stopping the flow of Egyptian jihadis to Syria. If Washington dumps him he will just move lock stock and barrel to Moscow's camp, and he is using this as a bargaining card. This is why he suspects that he can get away with whatever he says.
… They also believe that the US and Israel were the most supportive of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.