Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Everyone is Blaming the Jews for Egypt

I remember last week someone tweeted on Egypt "I wonder how long before people start blaming the Jews for this", well that time has come, despite the fact that there are less than 100 Jews left in Egypt. Everyone from the Turkish Prime Minister to "western diplomats" to the New York Times and Peter Beinart think the Jews or Israel are at least partly to blame for what is going on.  

The Turkish PM, Erdogan, thinks we are completely to blame.  Erdogan, Obama's "most trusted" ally in the middle east.  He says Israel is behind the coup in Egypt.  His proof?  A YouTube video featuring Tzipi Livni and Bernard-Henri Levy from 2011 in which Levy states that the Brotherhood won't have power even if it wins the election (speaking of which, Morsi might not have been elected legitimately).  What is it with Obama and his friends constantly blaming YouTube videos?  It's pretty frightening this guy is the leader of a NATO country with his Nazi-like Jewish conspiracy theories.  Maybe it is time to disband the body and make a new one. This time, though, hold the Turkey.

Then came the New York Times article in which unnamed "western diplomats" blamed Israel for the Egyptian military ignoring calls from the west to make a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood:

The Israelis, whose military had close ties to General Sisi from his former post as head of military intelligence, were supporting the takeover as well. Western diplomats say that General Sisi and his circle appeared to be in heavy communication with Israeli colleagues, and the diplomats believed the Israelis were also undercutting the Western message by reassuring the Egyptians not to worry about American threats to cut off aid.

The damage to US, Israeli and Egyptian interests from that one paragraph cannot be discounted.  This completely plays into the Muslim Brotherhood narrative that El-Sisi is just an Israeli stooge and given the prevalent anti-semitism among the Egyptian people only increases the chance that the military might, in turn, be overthrown. Israel can only support Egypt from the shadows for that very reason.  That said, blaming Israel for what happened is pretty ludicrous.  El-Sisi is perfectly aware that he and the Muslim Brotherhood is engaged in an existential struggle and so any ground he gives up puts the axe closer to his neck.

And then there is Peter Beinart who strangely blames the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for taking Israeli interests into account with regards to Egypt and lobbying for a continuation of aid to the new government.  It's like blaming NAACP for focusing on African Americans or the Sierra Club for focusing on the environment.  What else would AIPAC do especially given that a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt is an existential threat to Israel?  Why the double standard?

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