When news emerged that Hosni Mubarak was to be released from prison, I joked that Egypt was actually in the throes of a grand plot to punish the Egyptian people for having dared to topple their dictator. Part of this 'conspiracy' was the planting of provocateurs –Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, Mohammed Morsi and Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi – to lead the country off a cliff.
One of the most outlandish was the assertion by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, perhaps trying to fill a little of the void left by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel was behind the ouster of Mohammed Morsi.
His evidence? A Jewish-French intellectual, unnamed by Erdogan, who said, in 2011, that the Muslim Brotherhood would not take power, even if elected, because “democracy is not the ballot box.” The intellectual in question, an aide later revealed to AP, was none other than Bernard-Henri Levy.
Unfortunately, Erdogan did not elaborate on how BHL, as he is often called in France, came to work for the Israelis. Nor did he explain how Levy managed to brainwash millions of Egyptians into coming out to the streets to demand Morsi's departure, providing the army with the necessary cover and support to mount its coup, or what inside track the French philosopher enjoys with General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
Although this conspiracy theory may actually appeal to Levy's overinflated sense of himself – whose shallow philosophy has been described as “God is dead but my hair is perfect” – he is not a one-man intelligence agency. In fact, he is little more than the French equivalent of the “liberator of Kabul” John Simpson and “gut feeling,” “cab driver told me,” world-shaper Thomas Friedman.
In fact, anyone who actually watches the YouTube video can see that Levy is taking part in a panel discussion and is expressing his view that even if the Brotherhood won at the ballot box, he would not personally regard this as democratic. “Democracy is not only elections, it is values,” he asserted.
But, sadly, Erdogan is not alone in spreading absurd rumours of this kind. In Egypt itself, there are some people in most camps who allege that Israel, usually in collaboration with the United States, is the master puppeteer behind the crisis there. For instance, one poster at the Rabaa protest shows U.S. President Barack Obama dressed as pharaoh leading al-Sisi like a dog wearing a Star of David collar, while another - which has stirred controversy in Egypt - shows a Star of David stamped on the neck of a soldier. On the other side of the political spectrum, a caricature that appeared in a leading newspaper shows pro-Morsi protesters asking how to say "Occupy Egypt and save us" - in Hebrew.
Note EU-Digest: unfortunately as the saying goes, "where there is smoke there could be a fire", and who knows, eventually Recep Tayip Erdogan could turn out to be the master puppeteer?
Read more: Israel, the convenient puppet master - Opinion Israel News Broadcast | Haaretz
One of the most outlandish was the assertion by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, perhaps trying to fill a little of the void left by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that Israel was behind the ouster of Mohammed Morsi.
His evidence? A Jewish-French intellectual, unnamed by Erdogan, who said, in 2011, that the Muslim Brotherhood would not take power, even if elected, because “democracy is not the ballot box.” The intellectual in question, an aide later revealed to AP, was none other than Bernard-Henri Levy.
Unfortunately, Erdogan did not elaborate on how BHL, as he is often called in France, came to work for the Israelis. Nor did he explain how Levy managed to brainwash millions of Egyptians into coming out to the streets to demand Morsi's departure, providing the army with the necessary cover and support to mount its coup, or what inside track the French philosopher enjoys with General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
Although this conspiracy theory may actually appeal to Levy's overinflated sense of himself – whose shallow philosophy has been described as “God is dead but my hair is perfect” – he is not a one-man intelligence agency. In fact, he is little more than the French equivalent of the “liberator of Kabul” John Simpson and “gut feeling,” “cab driver told me,” world-shaper Thomas Friedman.
In fact, anyone who actually watches the YouTube video can see that Levy is taking part in a panel discussion and is expressing his view that even if the Brotherhood won at the ballot box, he would not personally regard this as democratic. “Democracy is not only elections, it is values,” he asserted.
But, sadly, Erdogan is not alone in spreading absurd rumours of this kind. In Egypt itself, there are some people in most camps who allege that Israel, usually in collaboration with the United States, is the master puppeteer behind the crisis there. For instance, one poster at the Rabaa protest shows U.S. President Barack Obama dressed as pharaoh leading al-Sisi like a dog wearing a Star of David collar, while another - which has stirred controversy in Egypt - shows a Star of David stamped on the neck of a soldier. On the other side of the political spectrum, a caricature that appeared in a leading newspaper shows pro-Morsi protesters asking how to say "Occupy Egypt and save us" - in Hebrew.
Note EU-Digest: unfortunately as the saying goes, "where there is smoke there could be a fire", and who knows, eventually Recep Tayip Erdogan could turn out to be the master puppeteer?
Read more: Israel, the convenient puppet master - Opinion Israel News Broadcast | Haaretz
No comments:
Post a Comment