Better late than never is the only way one can describe the New York Times’s decision to run an article about Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s history of anti-Semitic slanders. As we wrote here on Contentions two weeks ago, a video of an Egyptian TV interview with the Muslim Brotherhood leader from 2010 has surfaced in which he describes Israelis as “the descendants of apes and pigs” and called for a boycott of the United States. As I noted at the time, revelations about the nature of what passes for rhetoric about Israel and the Jews might come as a shock to readers of the Times–since much of their news coverage, as well as the work of op-ed columnists like Nicholas Kristof, had sought to portray the Brotherhood as moderate and friendly people who just happen to be Muslims–but not to those who have been following these developments without the rose-colored glasses that liberals seem to require to discuss the Arab world. The conceit of the piece about Morsi’s comment is, however, to call attention to the difficult position the Egyptian president has been placed in by reports about his despicable language.
Egyptian figures quoted by the Times get the last word here, as they seem to argue that it isn’t reasonable to expect Morsi to apologize since to do so leaves him vulnerable to criticism from his Islamist supporters and their allies who like that kind of talk. The conclusion seems to be that Americans should judge Morsi only by his recent behavior that has been aimed at least partly at ensuring that the flow of billions of dollars of U.S. aid should continue.
The problem is that Morsi’s use of a phrase that is commonly employed throughout the Muslim world to describe Jews as well as other comments that are straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is so common in Egypt as to make it almost unexceptionable. That is no small measure the result of Brotherhood propaganda and mainstream Islamist thought in which demonization of Israelis, Jews and Americans is commonplace. Try as writers like Kristof might to paint the Brotherhood as a responsible political movement, Jew-hatred is one of its core beliefs. The question here is not so much whether Morsi will publicly disavow these slurs but whether the Obama administration will continue to buy into the myth that Morsi is some kind of a moderate whose government deserves to continue to be treated as an ally.
The administration has tread carefully with Morsi over the last several months, even as he moved quickly to consolidate power in Egypt. With the apparent approval of Washington, Morsi has sought to eliminate any possible check on his ability to govern more or less in the same fashion as deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak. Though the Times more or less admits that Morsi’s rhetoric provides us a window as to how he would govern were he not restrained by his need for U.S. cash and Egypt’s relative military weakness, the underlying assumption seems to be that it is America’s interest to prefer him to any possible alternative. It also assumes that Morsi’s influence on events in the region, such as Hamas’s missile offensive against Israel last November, has been entirely benevolent.
In fact, Hamas’s aggressive attitude and risk taking as well as its attempt to increase its influence in the Fatah-controlled West Bank is directly related to the rise of the Brotherhood in Cairo. It is true that President Obama cannot be entirely blamed for the creation of this mess since Mubarak would have fallen no matter what the U.S. did. But his subsequent coddling of Morsi and the Brotherhood as well as the rebukes issued to the Egyptian military set the stage for a situation in which the most populous country in the Arab world is run by a raging anti-Semite who is working to undermine U.S. influence in the region and to strengthen radical forces while being subsidized by American taxpayers.
Morsi’s talk about “apes and pigs” is not a side issue to be ignored in the name of stability or preserving an American ally. It goes straight to the heart of whether Egypt should be treated as a nation ruled by a radical and hostile government that is confident that nothing it does will cause it to lose its American subsidy.
as if the NYT opinionators ever read the NYT news pages. n nI think being descended from apes is consistent with the scientific record. (Darwin) nAnd, don't the Christians usually get the pig descent charge? nand not as bad as what the Shi'a have been preaching for 200 years, about Jews. n nSeriously, maybe now this will get echo. The key to 'msm' echo is to get Goldblog's attention first.
Humans did not descend from apes, although they had a common ancestor millions of years ago.
Yawn. Poor Morsi. Having recent statements brought to light is so un-nuanced of those who would call attention to them. n nAfter all, it's routine. How is a muslim dictator supposed to get into and hold power long enough to turn Egypt into a liberal democracy without saying the things he did? n n
Well those are essentially secular pigs and monkeys. No worries.
The irony is that no one can seriously call out the Egyptians or other Arabs on this without being called a racist one's self. (The outraged rejoinder: "Are you saying ALL Egyptians/Arabs are [fill in the blank]?") n nThe reason for this is largely the flawed social construct of "racism," in which everyone gets to define racism more or less as it suits them, and no real definition exists. Hence, anyone gets to fling racism charges around, for any reason — as Chuck Hagel, for one, has been forcefully reminded in recent days. n nBy the way, wasn't it the Israeli interior minister who recently said "Israel belongs to the white man"? Don't hold me to this but I'm guessing that (1) he kept his job and (2) there have been no outraged articles in Commentary.
Clearly you know nothing about Israel or racism. If you bothered to take a look at Israel, you would notice it is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multireligious nation. A nation , I might add, surrounded by truly apartheid Muslim-majority states who are either homogeneous in their ethnic and religious character, or are warring with their neighbors so they can become so. n As for poor Chucky being accused of having a decided distaste for Jews, his own well documented comments and votes as a sentaor over the years speak for themselves.
Mr. Racism Expert, from your own comments (most sucinctly the one below) it sounds like you have a "decided distaste for Muslims" that also "speaks for itself." Imagine the howls of outrage if someone dared to refer to Jews/Judaism on this site the way you refer to Muslims/Islam. n nAre you the arbiter of which religion it is acceptable to be bigoted against?
If you find something inaccurate in my comment below, please do tell. As regards your claim that I have a "distaste for Muslims", you are way off base. It isn't a people or race I oppose, it is an ideology-namely Islamic ideology. Quite different. But let me guess, all religions are the same and have equal validity, correct? So if a "religion" teaches genocide, rape, ignorance , ect… I must respect it because it has the noble imprimatur of being designated a "religion"- the religion of peace no less! The ideology of Nazism is virtually a religion to its fanatical adherents- would I be a racist and bigot to oppose it?
I never said — and I wish to emphasize this — that your comments about Islam were incorrect. What bothers me is your double standards. n nYou espouse the ideology of all Israel Firsters: that racism/bigotry is bad if it is against Jews, but fine against other people. Or, a variant of this principle: to state the truth about Israel, the Israel lobby, etc. is bigotry, but to state the truth about Arab nations is courage. n nTo conclude, I would have to say that any religion that speaks of a "chosen people" is a racially supremacist ideology on its face. Nonetheless, I would be prepared to overlook it, were this slogan treated as merely an inspirational phrase and a legacy from history, rather than something to actually put into practice to the detriment of other peoples.
I think your a little confused Bill. Morsi's comments about Jews are indeed racist by any standard. My criticism of Islam is not based on race or ethnicity, but on the political ideology of Islam that seeks to dominate and subjugate non-Muslims-sometimes through violent means , and sometimes by stealth Jihad. Over 20,000 Jihad attacks SINCE 911! Do you know what Jihad is? BTW, the global Jihad is not just directed at Jews, but at ALL non-Muslims. But I suppose this is of little importance to you as your obsession with the embattled nation of Israel trumps all other considerations.
I really just have one thing to say to that. n n"Israel belongs to the white man." n nBut seriously, I do give you credit for one thing. At least you have avoided directly calling me an anti-Semite, and that is, genuinely, an improvement from many of the posters on this site.
You are a goy anti-Semite and you don't have a gnats ass notion of what you are talking about. "Israel-firster" serves as a self-identifier too. Seriously. You come here with your wise ass nuggets from nowhere to spit on Israel and Jews. We are not here to debate three thousand years of Jewish history, the development of covenantal theology, the universality or tribal dynamics of self-proclaimed monotheistic universal faith communities, or the sociological mechanisms of in-group/out-group identities and identifiers. With you.
'the Israeli interior minister who recently said "Israel belongs to the white man" ' n nI forget who said that a thing may be true although Lord Beaverbrook hath said it . A thing may also be true although Ha'aretz hath said it. Or even BillPatriot. n nBut in this case it is not. n n-
he doesn't like Jews. End of story. He thinks Jews being called pigs and monkeys is amusing.
"I would be prepared to overlook it"—how elegant. Anti-Semitic pseudo troll. We would be prepared to overlook that you find people announcing they intend to kill us the catalyst for your high school irony but you keep putting your foot in the door and repeating your litany of time worn anti-Jewish chestnuts through the mail slot. Absolutely, the Jews are oppressing the entire world. All the other bits are cover. "I would have to say" indeed. "I wish to emphasize". Yes, even as we speak, the Jewish lobby is raiding your bank account. n nHow droll.
You regularly, now, in this post, by inference and directly (Israel firsters) refer to Jews with contempt. That's why you are here. It's a Jew-baiting wank festival.
your mother was a pig and your father was a monkey n nyou like that? n nA little bit of knowledge is still a little bit–basically you have pulled a factoid out of your pocket without knowing the first thing about what you are talking about. No Commentary doesn't do play by play commentary on Shas–there was outrage in Israel–Shas has a history of outre pronouncements; it's core constituents are non-European and it regularly engages in provocations against "white" Russians. But no, Israel is closing its southern border to African migration. n nWe aren't dealing with subtle issues of racism–we are dealing on this topic with people who say you are sons of monkeys and pigs, not as some logical category but as political leaaders and then add, and Jews one day we will destroy you. n nOnly to morons who don't like Jews to begin with is this some kind of subtle mystery.
Mr. Tobin seems somewhat reticent to tell us where in the world Morsi got the strange idea to compare Jews to "apes and pigs", and it certainly has nothing to do with the protocols. n Also, to call Egypt's government "radical and hostile" is to miss the point entirely: It is simply a Muslim government-that is to say a "government " that takes its Islam seriously or to heart as it were. This as opposed to a government that might take its Islam less seriously ,and thus be more amenable to good relations with an infidel state like Israel. The way Turkey was before Erdogan came and showed how Kemalism was temporary but Islam is forever, or how Iran was before the Ayatollahs brought back that old time religion. The 800 lb gorilla in the room is islam, and until we face this unpleasant reality , we who sincerely wish to see a human future of peace and harmony will be left in confusion and disarray. n n
Why no mention of who the Brotherhood's allies were in WW2?
The US mass media propped the MBs genocidal savages all over!!! Including in the USA! nMorsi and the likes all over the Muslim world show their TOTAL & ABSOLUTE ignorance of basic genetics. If Jews are A & P so are the Muslims!!! That is probably why many of them hide behind big beards. nThe Pr. Islamophilia may become a major issue for IL. He may have decided to delegate to the EU the PA-IL conflict!
does anyone understand this post?