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Egyptian agriculture minister blamed Israel for contaminated fenugreek seeds from Egypt that killed dozens in Europe

Jul 21, 2011 12:56 am By Marisol Seibold

You’ve got to hand it to them: those hidden Zionist conspirators are thorough. Not even the fenugreek is safe from their wiles. Somewhere in the Grand Conspiracy Headquarters is a Fenugreek File on someone’s desk with all the nefarious plans.

Once again, conspiracy theories are handy for Islamic governments and societies, where they tend to thrive, because they deflect responsibility, and they don’t have to make sense as long as they pin the blame on one scapegoat or another and reinforce a sense of righteous victim-hood to at once distract and unite the populace. “In new Egypt, old conspiracies live on,” by David E. Miller for The Media Line, July 20:

When a European laboratory announced two weeks ago that an infected shipment of Egyptian fenugreek seeds was the source of an E. coli epidemic that killed 48 Germans and a Swede, the Egyptian agriculture minister didn’t apologize, nor did he call for an investigation into the matter.

The problem had nothing to do with Egypt, the minister, Ayman Abu-Hadid, told Egyptian press.

“Israel is waging a commercial war against Egyptian exports,” he explained, and with that the case was closed.

Abu-Hadid isn’t the only minister in Egypt’s post-revolutionary government to blame Israel for his country’s woes. In June, Deputy Prime Minister Yehia El-Gamal told the Lebanese news site Al-Nashra that Israel was inciting sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians in the country.

“Israel understands that a strong Egypt is a danger for them and they want to make Egypt weak,” El-Gamal said. “Nothing breaks or weakens Egypt more than sectarian tension or clashes between Muslims and Christians.”

Conspiracy theories — with Israel fingered as the power behind the scenes — were common currency in the years Husni Mubarak ruled Egypt. Many Egyptians expected that with the transition to a more open, accountable and democratic society, the politicians and press would no longer need to point to cabals to explain away problems.

Egypt’s press today is freer than any time in the last half century, but the government remains in the hands of the Mubarak-era army leadership, and the cabinet, even after this week’s reshuffle, is made up of veteran politicians. And, even though Egypt and Israel are formally at peace, many Egyptians remain hostile to the Jewish state. Travel, commercial ties and cultural links are minimal.

“Conspiracy theories are part of the texture of our culture,” Hani Henry, a psychology professor at the American University in Cairo, told The Media Line. “Even if we have a democratic government, the problem will not go away.”

He says blaming Israel for Egypt’s problems could be both a cynical attempt by politicians to distract the public or an honest belief that Israel is constantly conniving against Egypt. In either case however, conspiratorial thinking was deeply ingrained in Egyptian thinking.

The Egyptian government, nominated and directed by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), is struggling with soaring unemployment, a sharp decline in tourism and inflation of nearly 12%. Given these troubles, it is much easier to blame an outside enemy than take responsibility and face public rage, experts say.

The arrest in mid-June of Ilan Grapel, a 27-year-old American-Israeli law student, on charges of spying for Israel and stirring social unrest in Egypt was viewed by many Egyptians as a government ploy to deflect public attention from its shortcomings. Grapel traveled to Egypt as part of his work for a charity helping African refugees. His family, as well as the Israeli government, deny he was involved in espionage.

Then there were those oddly tattooed Mossad guys.

“Those scoundrels want to occupy the people with the spy so that they don’t talk about Mubarak and the gas [exports to Israel] “¦Come on, it’s the same old regime, nothing has changed,” one Facebook commentator wrote.

When protesters and police clashed at Cairo’s Tahrir Square at the end of June, leaving 1,000 injured, SCAF announced that it was all part of an “organized plan” to destabilize Egypt.

“Here we come to the question that blew off the lid of Pandora’s Box: Who sent the thugs? And all kinds of answers start popping up, and with each answer an entire world of sneaky intrigues and mischievous plots reveals itself to an audience yearning for an action-packed story that absolves them from blame and holds some invincible power accountable for their misery,” wrote Sonia Farid, who teaches English literature at Cairo University, on the Al-Arabiya television website.

It’s always someone else’s fault:

Ishaq Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a Cairo human rights organization, says that decades of Western failure to address the Palestinian issue has caused Egyptians to become bitter and suspicious of the West. However, he added, that doesn’t exempt them from examining their own mistakes.

“I don’t like hearing about conspiracy theories,” Ibrahim told The Media Line. “Even if we assume there was external intervention, someone from the inside must have contributed.”

While he understood why simple Egyptians would blame the Israelis for the E. coli epidemic, Ibrahim says that such statements from an educated government official are unacceptable.

“The government is placating the sentiments of the masses,” Ibrahim said. “Rather than leading the way and enlightening the people, they are feeding their fears.”…

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Filed Under: conspiracy paranoia, Egypt


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