Morsi Reverts to his Brotherhood Roots

Friday, tens of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters took to the streets all over Egypt, hurling rocks at Muslim Brotherhood members as they left mosques after Friday prayers and burning Brotherhood offices. Fearing that Morsi is making himself a dictator, protesters also rallied in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the iconic focal point for the demonstrations that brought down Hosni Mubarak. These are the most violent and widespread protests since Morsi was elected president, and they reflect the increasing polarization in Egypt over what political course it should take. Morsi told supporters in a Cairo speech that the decrees were meant to stop "weevils" from the former regime from stopping progress. Morsi spoke against a backdrop of widespread street clashes between thousands of opponents and supporters. Morsi's supporters say the decrees are temporary measures to get through the transitional period and prevent Mubarak supporters, including judicial officials, from blocking reform. "There are 'weevils' eating away at Egypt's nation," Morsi said. The controversial decrees were issued Thursday, just one day after Morsi brokered the Gaza- Israel ceasefire, garnering worldwide accolades for his leadership skills. The decrees cover several areas : (1) All laws and decisions by the president frm his election are final, cannot be appealed, overturned or halted by the courts or other entities until a new constitution is approved and a new parliament is elected in the spring. (2) No judicial body can dissolve the upper house of parliament or the assembly writing the new constitution, both dominated by the Brotherhood and other Islamists. Several cases demanding their disbanding were before the courts, which previously dissolved the lower house of parliament. (3) The president can take whatever measures necessary to prevent threats to "the revolution, the life of the nation or national unity and security" or to the functioning of state institutions. (4) A new judiciary body "for the protection of the revolution" is created to handle all investigations, prosecutions and trials of former regime officials, including Mubarak, for the killing of protesters during last year's uprising. Other police officers accused of killings, however, will not be retried. (5) The prosecutor general, a controversial Mubarak appointee seen by many as lax in pursuing former regime figures, was removed from his post. These decrees virtually remove any possibility of opposition through legal or free speech mechanisms and make street protests inevitable. Amnesty International said the new powers "trample the rule of law and herald a new era of repression" and could provide for detaining people for up to six months without charge. Prominent Egyptian democracy activist Mohamed ElBaradei called Morsi a "new pharaoh." The president's one-time ally warned that the polarization could bring a "civil war." Ibrahim Eissa, chief editor of daily Al-Tahrir, wrote, "The revolution is over and the new dictator has killed her." While Morsi was consolidating his power, the top Cleric of the Muslin Brotherhood in Egypt called for a Jihad war against Israel and the reclaiming of the Gaza for Islam. And, Israeli troops fired Friday to push back Gaza crowds surging toward Israel's border fence with the Hamas-ruled territory, killing one Palestinian and wounding 19 in the first violence since the Morsi-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas took effect a day earlier. Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the border, signaling the incident is unlikely to jeopardize the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire. Dear readers, we are witnessing the unravelling of the world's view of Morsi as a moderate statesman and peacemaker. It took just one day for him to revert to his Brotherhood roots. The prrotests will go on and regional analysts are even suggesting that they could bring down Morsi as they did Mubarak. Whatever small gooswill Israel may have been willing to give Morsi has been reduced to zero. And the betting in Europe is that America, ie, President Obama, will not intervene to stop Morsi in his march to an Islamist dictatorship because all Obama wants is someone who will support the US position vis-a-vis Israel. But Obama is doomed to learn the hard way that the Brotherhood and Morsi do not support Israel. They are determined to eliminate her. The Middle East is in the process of forming around this goal. Israel know this. Only Obama seems to be being duped.