Shutterstock / Israel flag + Egyptian flag
A senior Egyptian official considered close to President Mohamed Morsi has resigned after publicaly saying that Israel’s Egyptian Jews should return to their country of origin and leave Israel to the Palestinians.
In his resignation, Essam al-Erian, deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, officially cited a conflict of interest and a difficulty in balancing his responsibilities as an adviser with his parliamentary duties, JTA reported. In an interview with Dream TV last month, he said that Egyptian Jews “should refuse to live under a brutal, bloody and racist occupation stained with war crimes against humanity,” and instead return to their homeland.
The comment set off a round of condemnation.
Al-Erian, a former member of the Guidance Bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected to parliament in the Egyptian elections last year. To read more about the secretive world of the Muslim Brotherhood, read this conversation with Egypt expert Eric Trager in the current issue of Moment.