On Wednesday, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Yitzchok Adlerstein, Director of Interfaith Affairs for the Center, wrote an open letter to recently elected Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, in which they accuse the so-called Egyptian democracy of anti-Semitism and hold the regime accountable for a double standard, citing Mohammed Badie, Morsi’s religious advisor.
The letter was published in the New York Daily News, the widely circulated NYC tabloid.
The letter quotes statements and journalistic sources describing the "democratic" nature of post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt. "You declared that while ‘Egypt respects freedom of expression,’ the limits of such freedom stop when it is ‘directed towards one specific religion or culture,’” they accused.
An Associated Press article quoted in the letter said, “He insisted that freedom of expression does not allow for attacks on any religion,” but the rabbis pointed out the violent reactions to the “crude YouTube video” referring to “Innocence of Muslims”
“President Morsi,” write the authors, “if you truly believe that “attacks on any religion” are beyond the bounds of freedom, you must apply the same standard to your own country.” They continue, “Let us start with your religious mentor, Mohammed Badie, the spiritual guide of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — the group you openly credit with nurturing your worldview.”
“Last Thursday, Badie’s anti-Semitic call for jihad was published in Al-Ahram, the official newspaper owned by the Egyptian government, as well as on the Muslim Brotherhood’s own website. In it, Badie charged that ‘Jews have increased the corruption in the world, and . . . shed the blood of Muslims,’ declaring that 'Muslims must realize that restoring the sanctuaries and protecting honor and blood from the hands of Jews will not happen through the parlors of the United Nations, or through negotiations. The Zionists only know the way of force'.”