CAIRO: In yet another attempt to create fear over Egypt's “Islamist” new President Mohamed Morsi, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – a right-wing organization known for its anti-Islam slant – has called on potential donors to take note of the “lawlessness” in Egypt and the country's new president in its latest appeal for money. Sent out Wednesday, it warns its list of members that Egypt's new government is likely to support an ultra-conservative turn against Israel and would support Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The call for funds says that “Attacks against Israelis emanated not only from Hamas-controlled Gaza, but from the increasingly lawless EgyptianSinai desert. The increase in violence comes in the wake of mounting regional instability and uncertainty, including the election of an Islamist president in Egypt. The United States should continue to work closely with Israel to help it expand its capabilities to defend against these growing threats.” It calls on its potential donors to help fight against these currents, singling out Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi, in particular. Ironically, the statement from AIPAC is in stark contrast to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he “looks forward to continuing cooperation” with Egypt. The ongoing push to brand Morsi as an “Islamist” – a term used by American media to denote radical Muslims – has picked up steam in recent weeks since his ascension to power on June 30. Earlier this week, Frontpage magazine – another right-wing anti-Islam publication – warned its readers that the “Salafist” government in Egypt was beginning to push for the destruction of the iconic Giza Pyramids, citing a sheikh in Bahrain. The publication, known for its virulent anti-Islamic sentiments and meandering between reality and truth and fiction pertaining to Islam globally and in the United States, argued that the country's Salafist al-Nour party has brought forth plans to demolish the country's iconic monuments to take down “symbols of paganism." It cited Bahrain's “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abdal Latif al-Mahmoud, who reportedly urged Egypt's new president to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not." Mahmoud's quotes were referring to what Frontpage said were efforts by al-As, a companion to the Prophet Mohamed, who another right-wing publication The Christian Post reported invaded Egypt in 641 and “began destroying Egyptian artifacts." The FrontPage Magazine article then details “examples" of contemporary Muslims across several African and Middle Eastern countries who have destroyed historical monuments. “Much of this hate for their own pre-Islamic heritage is tied to the fact that, traditionally, Muslims do not identify with this or that nation, culture, or language, but only with the Islamic nation – the Umma," the article states. “Accordingly, while many Egyptians – Muslims and non-Muslims alike – see themselves first and foremost as Egyptians, Islamists have no national identity, identifying only with Islam's ‘culture,' based on the ‘sunna' of the prophet and Islam's language, Arabic," it claims. The article is yet another example of fearmongering that highlights the growing divide among real scholarship regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, which is not a Salafist organization, and a few outliers who do not speak for the greater Islamic community, in Egypt and elsewhere.
