Bret Stephens: Egypt's Prison of Hate
[Mr. Stephens writes the Journal's "Global View" column on foreign affairs.]
Following the New Year's Eve massacre of a score of Coptic Christian worshippers outside a church in Alexandria, Egyptians are wasting no time fingering the likely culprit.
"With careful consideration," observes commentator Ammar Ali Hassan in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, "the incident could lead to other interpretations, especially the application of the Zionist conspiracy against national unity in Egypt."
Going one better, Essam El-Irian, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, says that while he believes "the Israeli Mossad was behind the incident," he won't rule out the possibility that al Qaeda itself may now be under Israeli operational control. And in a bid for Christian-Muslim unity, Gamal Assad, a Christian member of Egypt's parliament, accuses the perpetrators of "carrying out a Zionist scheme aimed at fragmenting the Arab region as a whole."
All of which leads to the depressing conclusion that Egypt, the country that forged a brilliant path to peace with Israel 31 years ago, is becoming something worse than an anti-Semitic cesspool. It is turning itself into a nation of political imbeciles...
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Following the New Year's Eve massacre of a score of Coptic Christian worshippers outside a church in Alexandria, Egyptians are wasting no time fingering the likely culprit.
"With careful consideration," observes commentator Ammar Ali Hassan in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, "the incident could lead to other interpretations, especially the application of the Zionist conspiracy against national unity in Egypt."
Going one better, Essam El-Irian, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, says that while he believes "the Israeli Mossad was behind the incident," he won't rule out the possibility that al Qaeda itself may now be under Israeli operational control. And in a bid for Christian-Muslim unity, Gamal Assad, a Christian member of Egypt's parliament, accuses the perpetrators of "carrying out a Zionist scheme aimed at fragmenting the Arab region as a whole."
All of which leads to the depressing conclusion that Egypt, the country that forged a brilliant path to peace with Israel 31 years ago, is becoming something worse than an anti-Semitic cesspool. It is turning itself into a nation of political imbeciles...