Tim Marshall is the Foreign Affairs Editor of Sky News:
Describing Jews as sons of pigs and monkeys is commonplace throughout the Middle East, it is routinely repeated on the street, in mosques, in TV debates, in cartoons, and in newspaper articles. The belief is based on three different verses in the Koran – 7:166, 2:65, and 5:60.
Some open-minded Muslims argue that the verses should be seen in historical context and that they refer to the problems between Jews and the new religion of Muhammad at the time of writing. Many others view them as literal and applicable for all time.
For the Egyptian President to use the phrase in a live TV interview in the 21st century suggests he takes the latter view. Core beliefs such as those he has espoused for decades are not normally reversed by a year in power although this cannot be definitively ruled out.
In Europe, when Europeans say things such as expressed above, we recognise them as ‘Fascistic’. When expressed by people in some other parts of the globe we appear frightened to call things what they are.
