Analysis of Morsi Speech to the UN

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Tawfic Hamid Ýí 2012-09-27

In his first speech to the UN the new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi had a great opportunity to reflect upon the hopes of the NEW Egypt. Unfortunately, he lost this opportunity.

I would have expected President Morsi to start his talk bysending condolences to the American people for themurder of the US diplomat and his colleagues, and to the whole world for the deaths of many innocent people as well in the recent Muslim rioting purportedly against the film about Prophet Mohamed. Instead, the main focus for Mr. Morsi was to denounce the film in a way that looked as if he was justifying the barbaric violent Muslims' reaction against it.

As an Egyptian, I would have expected Mr. Morsi to devotemost of his speech to the current vital concerns of Egypt and the Egyptian people. Instead, the president addressedissues related to other Muslim countries such as Somalia, Sudan, and Syria. Additionally, he considered the Palestinian - NOT the Egyptian - issue to be his first priority. Had I notknown that Mr. Morsi was the president of Egypt I would not have guessed from his speech that he is the Egyptian president as he rarely mentioned the challenges that faceEgypt compared to his spoken concerns for the problems facing other Arab countries? It seemed as if Morsi was trying to establish himself as the leader of the Islamic Caliphate rather than as the president of Egypt.

I would have also expected that President Morsi would make a reference to the historical dimension of ancient Egypt as one of the earliest civilizations in the world in the context of welcoming tourists back to the country with a view towards improving its deteriorating economy - but it seemed that the president preferred to talk about the Arabic and Islamic dimensions of the country without addressing its great history. This seemed to me that Mr. Morsi, like many Islamists, is not proud of this ancient Egyptian history because the Pharaohs are seen by them as 'Infidels'.

The president of Egypt denounced freedom of speech in the West if it insults the beliefs of others. Mr. Morsi should have realized that before asking others to remove the straw from their eyes he needs first to remove the stake from his own eye. It is common to hear Islamists in Egypt insulting Jews & Christians and inciting violence against them on mainstream media, yet we have not seen any strong action from Mr. Morsi against them. Do limitations of freedom of speech - in Morsi's view - apply only when Islam is insulted, but not the other way around?

Additionally, when Morsi addressed the problem of the "Mohamed" film he focused on criticizing the 'action' - NOT the 'Reaction'. Would the Egyptian president also blame the 'action' or the 'reaction' if, after the famous Muslim scholar Sheik Wagdi Ghonem had publically disrespected and insulted Pope Shenoda of the Coptic Church, Christians all over the world burned Mosques, destroyed Egyptian embassies, and killed an Egyptian ambassador? I do not have any doubt that Mr. Morsi in such a case would blame the hysterical 'reaction' against the insult rather than the 'action' or the insult itself.

Mr. Morsi was clear in his stand against any discrimination against Muslims. Is he also ready to stop discrimination against the Bahai community in Egypt? who are likely to be deprived of their basic religious rights in the new constitution currently being prepared by the Islamist friends of Mr. Morsi?

President Morsi could not unconditionally accept Human Rights as laid down by the UN but he wants the West to respect Muslims' culture and not intervene to enforce theirforeign cultural values on the Arab and Muslim world. Is he, for example, expecting that the US MUST respect Female Genital Mutilation, pedophilia, stoning of adulterers, beatingof women, killing of homosexuals, anti-Semitism, and violent Jihad, as these -generally speaking - are accepted values by many people in the Arab and Muslim culture?

Morsi avoided mentioning the word Israel (as if its name is an insult!) in his speech even when he addressed the Palestinian problem. Interestingly, Mr. Morsi cannot totally avoid mentioning the word Israel as it is mentioned 40 times in the Quran (many of them in a positive context!).

To conclude, Morsi's first speech to the UN is below expectations and missed the opportunity to position Egypt as a country that will move forward on the path of freedom and liberty.

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بطاقة Tawfic Hamid

تاريخ الانضمام	:	2011-03-09
مقالات منشورة	:	18
اجمالي القراءات	:	162,608
تعليقات له	:	0
تعليقات عليه	:	0
بلد الميلاد	:	Egypt
بلد الاقامة	:	Egypt