The statement is no surprise. As we have seen many, many times over the years at Jihad Watch, Islamic supremacists never, ever take responsibility for their own actions, and often (as here) blame them on their victims.
“Egypt presidential aide blames Christians for cathedral attack, sparks fury,” from Al Arabiya, April 10 (thanks to David):
A statement on Tuesday by an Egyptian presidential aide accusing Christian Copts of being the cause of Monday”s clashes near Cairo’s Abbasiya Cathedral has caused public outrage.
Issam al-Hadad, the president’s assistant on foreign affairs, published the statement on Facebook, saying that during a funeral of Christians on Monday, some angry mourners attacked passing cars.
This led some people near the cathedral to open fire and throw rocks, which escalated into an exchange of gunfire, he added.
Clashes broke out on Monday between Muslims and Christians during a funeral of four Christians killed in sectarian violence the day before in the town of al-Khsoos. Monday”s clashes killed two and injured 89, security officials said.
Presidency repudiates statement
A meeting was held Tuesday between presidential and cathedral delegates to discuss the recent clashes, during which the presidential delegation repudiated Hadad’s statement, saying it only expressed his personal opinion.
“Issuing statements that are then denied by the presidency clearly shows confusion in presidential performance,” said Egyptian journalist Abdullah al-Sinawi….
Indeed.