The New York Times finally broke a story slamming Egypt’s current president, rabid Jew-hater Mohamed Morsi.
Nearly three years ago, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood delivered a speech urging Egyptians to “nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred” for Jews and Zionists. In a television interview months later, the same leader described Zionists as “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.”
That leader, Mohamed Morsi, is now president of Egypt — and his comments may be coming back to haunt him.
Mind you, the MEMRI story broke some days before anyone bothered to report it, and most of the rest of the media is still ignoring it.
Surely, if the president of virtually any other country in the world had defamed an entire people in such a way — only a couple years before they got the top job, to boot — it would have at least gotten a few column-inches. Yet Morsi gets a free pass.
Actually, Behar is wrong. If the president of any other country in the world had defamed any other people but Jews in such a way–well, then the media would be all over it. There has always been a concerted effort to downplay hateful remarks about Jews. Just ask Walt, Mearsheimer, and now Hagel.
The AP didn’t cover the remarks until the White House condemned them. And really, WTF is up with “gave a blistering review”? What, the White House is now a critic?
The Obama administration gave a blistering review Tuesday of remarks that President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt made almost three years ago about Jews and called for him to repudiate what it called unacceptable rhetoric.
In blunt comments, the White House and State Department said Morsi’s statements were ‘‘deeply offensive’’ and ran counter to the goal of peace in the region. The State Department, noting that a senior congressional delegation is now visiting Egypt, said the remarks complicated efforts to provide economic and military aid to Egypt.
It’s taken more than a few days for the rest of the media to acknowledge that the president of Egypt is a virulent anti-Semite.
Four days ago, this column sharply criticized America’s biggest media outlets for failing to report on TV videos of vicious Jew-hating rants (from 2010) by the man now occupying the highest office in Egypt. Nine hours ago, the White House sharply condemned President Mohamed Morsi for that vitriol, calling it “deeply offensive” — while the U.S. State Department said that Morsi’s comments “should be repudiated firmly.”
As a result, the media world (and Washington) may be waking up from its collective stupor–specifically, the timeworn and tiresome routine of ignoring anti-Semitic hate speech by Islamist officials as if it’s to be expected of them, and thus not newsworthy. Few experts on the Middle East would disagree that the New York Times, as the best and most powerful newspaper in the world, should have begun covering the subject in-depth a long time ago. But the paper of record is now leading the pack since yesterday evening, when its Cairo bureau chief (David D. Kirkpatrick) wrote a vital and commendable front-page story. Miracles can happen, it seems, if readers wait long enough.
Oh, the media world is waking up from its stupor. And finding ways to excuse the hate. Witness the New York Times editorial:
The problem goes deeper than just Mr. Morsi, however. The remarks were made at a time when anti-Israel sentiment was running high in Egypt and the region after the three-week Gaza conflict in 2009 between Israel and Hamas. The sad truth is that defaming Jews is an all too standard feature of Egyptian, and Arab, discourse; Israelis are not immune to responding in kind either.
Note the false equivalency: Israelis do it, too!
Really? Show me the quotes from an Israeli prime minister defaming Arabs or Muslims the way that Morsi insulted Jews. Show me the quotes from anyone in a real position of power to affect the treaty between the two nations spewing racist, hateful remarks like Morsi. Not a rabbi, not a leader of some obscure political group: Someone who is in charge of the Israeli nation.
You cannot. Because Israel has never elected a man or woman who hates Arabs and Muslims. Yet Egypt blithely elected a man who hates Jews, and who is not ashamed of telling the world he does–except when it comes to perhaps not getting money from the world he also loathes (don’t think he doesn’t hate Christians as much as he hates Jews).
And here’s some more false moral equivalency from the Times. Note how they blame the entire region to include Israel, when clearly only one side in this battle is teaching its children to hate:
Teaching children to hate and dehumanizing one’s adversaries is just the kind of twisted mentality that fuels the conflicts that torment the region.
And finally, the conclusion that makes you laugh out loud:
Does Mr. Morsi really believe what he said in 2010? Has becoming president made him think differently about the need to respect and work with all people? So far, there has been no official reaction.
The White House called for Mr. Morsi to make clear that he respects members of all faiths and said the videotaped remarks run counter to the goal of peace. President Obama should also deliver that message to President Morsi directly.
There has been no word, because he cannot deny his remarks. If he does, he will lose credit with the Jew-hating Muslim Brotherhood, and the Jew-hating crowds that elected him. Hatred of Israel is taught in the region from the cradle. Israel is the only nation in the region not teaching its children to hate.
They’re learning that from the haters themselves.
