Federica Mogherini's inane speech to Cairo University

Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, gave a speech at Cairo University on Wednesday.

This section stands out:

Diversity is what makes the Middle East so rich, and unique. It's also what makes Europe so rich, and unique. It's our common strength. Da’esh wants to destroy all that. Dampen the colours of this region, and turn all the colours into black. We have a duty to preserve such diversity, and to help all minorities stay in their own land.

Da’esh is putting forward an unprecedented attempt to pervert Islam. It is a movement that, rather than preserving Islam, wants us to trash centuries of Islamic culture in the name of their own fight for power. This is not glorious, this is simply destructive. Daʼesh is not a friend but an enemy to Islam in today’s world. Its victims are first and foremost Muslim people. Islam itself is a victim of their despicable acts.

Now that we have Da'esh, there is no reason to worry about the Muslim Brotherhood or Al Qaeda or Hamas or Islamic Jihad or Hezbollah or any number of other terror groups. Only Da'esh perverts Islam, the rest of the groups are on "our side" by implication. We have a new bogeyman who can whitewash the crimes of not-quite-as-radical Islam.

So this way she can skate over history with statements like this:

Diversity is what makes the Middle East so rich, and unique. It's also what makes Europe so rich, and unique. It's our common strength. Da’esh wants to destroy all that. Dampen the colours of this region, and turn all the colours into black. We have a duty to preserve such diversity, and to help all minorities stay in their own land. Arab Christians have lived here for millennia. The Copts are part of the beautiful history of this country. And the same goes for Kurds, Yazidis, Alawites, Druze, for Shias and for Sunnis.

Has the region been a beacon of tolerance for all these minorities?

Note the absence of "Jews."

Mogherini's discussion of Israel was equally inane:

But let me mention an older conflict first. A conflict we must always keep in mind – even when we start thinking that because it is the oldest, it is also the one we can manage more easily, or contain. Even when the eye of international media turns away – and this is often the case, and media only come back when people, often children, die again. I'm talking of the lack of peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.

We must do all we can to end the violence. Ultimately, only with two States will there be peace. A strong, brave, wise politician like Yitzhak Rabin knew this very well: only a Palestinian state would bring peace, and only peace would bring security to Israel.

Rabin never accepted a Palestinian state. His position was to the right of Netanyahu's today.

Nothing is gained by spreading the same old lies. By implying that the current Israeli government doesn't want peace, Mogherini is part of the problem. Only one side has moved towards peace since Rabin's death, and the other one has moved much further away, based on actual words said both officially and unofficially by the main players. You would never know this from reading the statements of Mogherini and her colleagues.

A Palestinian youngster of your age deserves rights and prosperity. The people of Gaza deserve a normal life. All this will only be possible with a viable, strong and peaceful State of Palestine.

The European Union strongly believes in this perspective. Ultimately, it is up to the Israeli and the Palestinian leaders to turn the page and choose peace. But we can all do our part to help them take the right decision. For this reason, the European Union has pushed to invite key Arab countries to join our Quartet meetings, as it has happened in these last months. All regional powers share an interest in ending the conflict – and today even more so, as the whole Middle East is in turmoil.

Tension in the Holy Places can only play in the hands of terrorists of all kinds. It can facilitate radicalisation and recruitment. It can reinforce their narrative of a war of religion.

On the other hand, think what peace in the Holy Land could do. Think of a pacified Jerusalem, a city for all the children of Abraham, a capital for two States. How sweet would that be... I know sweet is not a word we associate with the Middle East… We should. What a powerful message would it send to the whole Middle East, to the whole world. The message that living together, in dignity and respect of diversity, is possible and indeed beneficial to all.

Look how equal-handed she is as she obliquely refers to Jews as part of the "terrorists of all kinds."

And also note how she avoids saying anything about how the Egyptian government has been far more antagonistic towards ordinary Gazans than Israel has been, and how that same government recognizes Hamas as being the enemy, not only Da'esh.

If she wants to foster real peace, she has to start with the real truth. Delivering a message to Arabs that everyone wants peace except for ISIS, without acknowledging the hate and incitement that permeates the society, makes hers a message of "fight ISIS" instead of "excise the hate from your own hearts."

(h/t Irene)

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