It is a standard practice in the Western mainstream media to cast Muslim aggression against Christian minorities in the catchy, alliterative mold of reciprocal “sectarian strife.” All the more so with Iran’s own PressTV here.
PressTV and the deputy prime minister also know the value of a conspiracy theory, however old and tired it is. The first handy thing about conspiracy theories is that they don’t have to make sense. The theory is its own explanation: there’s a conspiracy. The second is that it enables deflection of responsibility. As long as the problem is something “they” are doing, who ever “they” are (usually Zionists and Americans), the solution to the problem is not reform, introspection, or heaven forbid, admitting faults or defects. One can simply rage against “them.”
“Egypt blames US, Israel for sect strife,” from PressTV, June 27 (thanks to Weasel Zippers):
Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Yehiya al-Gamal has blamed the United States and Israel for being engaged in efforts to incite a religious strife to weaken the African country.
“The US and Israel are behind the religious sedition in Egypt [as] they realize this is the only way to break up the country,” said al-Gamal in televised remarks, quoted in a report by MENA news agency.
“Israel is trying to do this because Egypt is the most important power in the region,” he emphasized.
Egypt is entangled with sectarian strife in the country following a historic revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
Sectarian clashes between Coptic Christians and Saudi-inspired radical Salafists in the capital Cairo claimed 12 lives and injured 100 more in March…..