Muslim Brotherhood Leader Calls Egypt’s Military Chief Worse than Pharaoh, Compares Him to ‘Zionist Enemies and Their Treacherous Agents’

The Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Leader is accusing Egypt's military chief who forced former President Mohammed Morsi out of power of acting worse than Pharaoh, comparing his behavior in recent days to "the bitter Zionist enemies and their treacherous agents."

This latest tirade from Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie comes on the heels of bloody weekend clashes between supporters of Morsi and security forces that claimed the lives of 72 people, according to the Health Ministry, Egypt Independent reports.

Badie is accusing Defense Minister and Commander of the Egyptian Military Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of "committing massacres the likes of which we have only seen committed by the bitter Zionist enemies and their treacherous agents."

Muslim Brotherhood Leader Calls Egypt's Military Chief Worse than Pharaoh, Compares Him to Zionist Enemies and Their Treacherous Agents
Muslim Brotherhood Leader Calls Egypt's Military Chief Worse than Pharaoh, Compares Him to Zionist Enemies and Their Treacherous Agents

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohammad Badie (File photo: AP)

He also accused Israel of pulling the strings behind the scenes of the so-called Arab Spring protests that have gripped the Arab world for the past two years, attributing to the Jewish state expansionist ambitions. "Zionist fingers are at play in countries of the Arab Spring, so as to fulfill the vision of the Great Israel."

Badie continued with his theory, accusing the "Zionists" (i.e. Israel) of planting assassins in Libya and Tunisia to target more secular political activists opposed to Islamist rule.

Ynet reports that Badie suggested that Gen. Sisi is worse than the biblical Pharaoh. Badie said that Pharaoh killed children of believers and let women live, while Sisi and the security forces "are worse; you kill everybody."

The Egyptian presidency says it is "saddened" by the weekend bloodshed but linked the killings to "terrorism."

Al Arabiya reports that Mostafa Hegazy, an adviser to interim President Adly Mansour, told reporters, "We are saddened by the spilling of blood on the 27th." But he added "we cannot decouple this [incident] from the context of terrorism."

For their part, demonstrators and Morsi supporters accuse security forces of having used live fire against unarmed protesters on Saturday. Al Arabiya reports that the Interior Ministry insists security forces fired only tear gas.

An investigation has been launched into the circumstances behind Saturday's bloody events. Hegazy says the Egyptian leadership will "be taking a stance after investigation ends, regardless of whoever is found responsible."

But even before the investigation ends, he is calling the protest site in Cairo a "terror-originating spot," adding "There is a wave of terror and we will break this wave."

Besides Badie, other Brotherhood officials are also firing back against the new Egyptian leadership. Ynet reports that senior Freedom and Justice Party [linked with the Muslim Brotherhood] official Essam el-Erian posted on Facebook, "They will not be content until they bring back everything from the era of the corrupt, murderous security and intelligence state."

"They've stepped up their efforts to do so by committing massacres never before seen in Egyptian history," he added.

Badie has made a variety of anti-Israel statements in the past including a call for Muslims to wage "Holy Jihad" to conquer Jerusalem from Israel.

He has also referred to Jews repeatedly as "apes" and "pigs" in his speeches. Here is one example cited by the Investigative Project: "The Zionists, the West and the lackey rulers conspired together. If the Muslim Brotherhood had remained in the field, the Zionist Entity would not have stood not its flag raised. Of old God forced the Jews to become pigs," Badie said in a 2010 sermon.