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.I need to find out which division of Elders International is responsible for fenugreek seed rumors, so I can send them all Amazon gift cards. (That's how we roll here at the world headquarters of EoZ.)
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.
..."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."
(h/t IsraelMuse)