A top Egyptian Islamic authority—Sheikh Mansour Al-Rifa’i ‘Ubeid, a former Under Secretary for Religious Affairs—recently published a repulsive blast of antisemitic hatred in an official Egyptian government daily: Treason and Deception are in the Blood of the Jews.

“The Jews lived their whole lives in a nest of corruption, propagating vile and fighting virtue. Therefore, Allah – through the Prophets - cursed them throughout time because they constantly propagated treason, be it their way of life and their way of dealing with people … They worship and venerate money, using it to breed depravity and to raze values. Because of this Allah, be He praised, said [Koran 5: 78-79]: ‘The heretics among the Israelites were cursed by David and by Jesus the son of Mary because they rebelled and acted violently. They did not counsel each other from committing evil, but [indeed] did it and therefore their deeds are sinful.’ Allah be He praised, did not curse all the Jews, since there is a group amongst them that has known Allah and believed in Him … Some of the Jews, though a minority, have decency and conscience. …

“Indeed, trickery is in the nature of the Jews, and they will never [be able to] get rid of it, therefore we have to be wary of them when we deal with them in commerce or anything else. There is venom in the serpent’s son [i.e. the Jew] and he spits it on friend and foe alike. No Jew knows a beautiful friendship, but only his own interest. That is why they abrogated agreements and covenants and did not honor a friend’s right. They are what was said about them [Koran 9: 10] ‘They do not honor a pledge or a covenant that they gave to a believer [Muslim].’”

Remember, though; it’s just a teeny tiny minority of extremists, preaching a perverted version of Islam, who are causing all these problems.

The United States gives Egypt more than $2 billion a year in foreign aid.

UPDATE: Not only do we give them $2 billion a year, we’re also planning to sell the Egyptians (and the Saudis) our newest weapons technology. (Hat tip: selpaw.)

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (Oct.16, 2003), “Israeli officials are particularly concerned about the planned sale of satellite-guided missiles that would erode Israel’s strategic advantage.” The Jerusalem Post reported (Oct.16, 2003) that Israel is also “interested in blocking specifically the sale of JDAM (joint direct attack munitions) to Egypt, which would allow Egyptian bombers to have greater all-weather accuracy…”