Egyptian newspaper Dostur discusses a recent statement from "His Eminence:"
Nicholas Antoniou, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Tanta and Gharbia and the church’s official spokesperson and agent for Arab affairs, spoke about the role of the Jews in the crucifixion, and their attempt to acquit themselves, claiming that by crucifying Christ they had fulfilled God’s will, and had it not been for them, this will would not have been fulfilled, and therefore they are not guilty. He refutes this with Timothy the Catholic: “The Jews did not crucify Christ according to his will, but for the sake of hatred towards him and towards the One who sent him. For this reason they crucified him, that is, in order for him to die and perish on earth. "He also quoted Ammar al-Basri, an Arab Christian writer from the ninth century, who said: “The Jews did not intend to kill Christ deliberately for the good of people, but rather due to their ancient tyranny, their family envy, and their malicious habits of killing God’s prophets and saints and his messengers.”
This is doubly antisemitic. Besides the ancient charge of deicide, the archbishop adds that Jews try to fool Christians into giving them credit for killing Jesus so he could die for their sins.
He then adds a dollop of classic Muslim antisemitism that Jews habitually kill or attempt to kill prophets and "messengers" like Mohammed.
This was also reported in the Arabic language Copts Today.
So a major religious figure went on an antisemitic rant, invoking the lie that has been responsible for the murder of countless Jews throughout history.
Which means this is just another day in Egypt.
