U.S. Urges Morsi to Retract Anti-Semitic Remarks

The United States on Tuesday condemned vitriolic anti-Semitic remarks attributed to Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi before he was elected to office, and urged him to make clear his views.

"The language that we've seen is deeply offensive," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, adding "we think that these comments should be repudiated, and they should be repudiated firmly."

According to a TV clip released by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute, Morsi is seen referring in a 2010 interview to Israelis as "blood suckers and war mongers, and descendants of pigs and apes."

"We must resist them with all forms of resistance. A military resistance in Palestine against these Zionist criminals assaulting the land of Palestine and Palestinians," he says in the remarks to Quds Channel three years ago.

Morsi, who was a leader of the Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, was elected last year as the country's president.

His election, and a later apparent power grab which he then reversed under pressure, has raised eyebrows in the West fearful his rise could signal a political shift in the country which has been a cornerstone of regional stability.

Nuland said Washington had already raised its concerns about the television clip with Cairo, and stressed again that Congress, which has blocked part of a $1 billion in extra U.S. aid, was watching the new Egyptian leadership carefully.

"We completely reject these statements, as we do any language that espouses religious hatred. This kind of rhetoric has been used in this region for far too long," she told journalists. "It's counter to the goals of peace."

"President Morsi should make clear that he respects people of all faiths and that this type of rhetoric is not acceptable or productive in a democratic Egypt," added White House spokesman Jay Carney.

The two administration officials stressed though that since coming to office, Morsi had reaffirmed Egypt's commitment to the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

He had done so "in both word and deed, and has proven willing to work with us toward shared objectives, including a cease-fire during the crisis in Gaza last year," Carney said.

Washington would judge Morsi by both what he says and does, Nuland added.

"What he has been doing is supporting that peace treaty, continuing to work with us and with Israel on common goals, including in Gaza. But we'll also judge him by what he says."