RUTHFULLY YOURS

On Wednesday, Egyptian interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei resigned in protest over the Egyptian military’s use of brute force against supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.

News of ElBaradi’s exit were accompanied by rumors that “other liberals” in Egypt had followed suit. These rumors turned out to be as false as using the word “liberal” to describe counterrevolutionary forces that deposed Morsi in June. Nor does ElBaradei come close to resembling a liberal in the Western sense, other than disapproving of the spilling of Muslim Brotherhood blood by the army.

In his letter of resignation to interim President Adly Mansour, ElBaradei wrote: “As you know, I saw that there were peaceful ways to end this clash in society; there were proposed and acceptable solutions for beginnings that would take us to national consensus.”

Yes, consensus is what ElBaradei — the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a Nobel peace prize laureate — is all about. This is why, as soon as he arrived in Egypt at the end of his stint at the IAEA, he created a coalition to oppose former President Hosni Mubarak. Preparing to run in the presidential election scheduled for 2011, he announced that he was forming the “National Association for Change.”

To gain momentum for his campaign, ElBaradei met with opposition leaders and activists, including members of the then-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. His goal, he said, was to “push for constitutional reforms and social justice.”

After meeting with Saad el-Katani, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing that became the Freedom and Justice Party, ElBaradei received an official endorsement from the Muslim Brotherhood for his “reform campaign.”

Of course, it would have to be through such “liberalization” efforts that the Muslim Brotherhood could slither its way, with newfound legitimacy, into the political system. And it worked beyond the terrorist group’s wildest dreams. When the Egyptian leg of the “Arab Spring” kicked off, it was the well-organized Brotherhood that took over the mass street demonstrations. ElBaradei can be proud of himself for abetting Egypt’s radical Islamists in their attempt to usurp power.

And usurp power they did, with a vengeance. Suddenly, the Egyptians who had kicked out Mubarak — all the while rioting and committing rape in Tahrir Square — weren’t so happy with the situation. They had elected a government to replace Mubarak’s autocracy, and now they had Morsi, who was shoving Shariah law down their throats. And he wasn’t even improving the economy in the process.

Before Morsi had much of chance to implement his ideology, however, again “popular demonstrations” erupted in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Now it is Morsi’s turn to be in the literal and figurative doghouse, like his predecessor, Mubarak.

Still, ElBaradei’s willingness to become a member of the interim military-led government gave the whole dubious “counter-revolution” an air of respectability.

So one can see why other “liberal” members of his Association for Change might not have been so thrilled about his stepping down, and why they are not rushing to mimic his behavior. But they have to justify remaining in their seats while the military is gunning down demonstrators.

This is why Association for Change spokesman Ahmad Taha Al-Naqr made a statement on Egyptian TV on Wednesday, in which he defended the harsh response to the street riots.

Excerpts of the clip, released by MEMRI (the Middle East Media Research Institute), illustrate just how “liberal” the anti-Muslim Brotherhood forces actually are.

“I’d like to focus on the connection between the Jews and the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said. “The Muslim Brotherhood has adopted the policy of the Jews, and they are implementing it to the letter, with respect to the invasion of the media, presenting an image of eternal victims … They use violence and view others as gentiles. The Jews always say that non-Jews are gentiles and that it is permitted to kill them — gentiles can be killed or banished, like they do to the Palestinians.”

“The [Aug. 14] Rabaa massacre was orchestrated in the same style as the historical Masada massacre of the Jews, so that the Muslim Brotherhood would be able to continue to harp on about it, thus justifying foreign intervention in the affairs of Egypt. They actually demanded such foreign intervention. Anyone demanding intervention in his country’s affairs is committing high treason. They simply clone and implement the image of the Jews.”

Lest this “liberal reformer” pushing for “social justice” be under the impression that any appeal on the part of the Jew-like Muslim Brotherhood for foreign intervention will bear fruit, he need only listen to what Washington has to say.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest summed up the U.S. administration’s stance rather nicely: “The violence will only make it more difficult to move Egypt forward on a path to lasting stability and democracy,” he cautioned. “Figuring out how to encourage the interim government to make good on their promise to transition to a democratically elected government there is something that we’re working on.”

When, even after Earnest’s press conference, all of this “difficult democracy-transitioning” resulted in several more casualties in the streets of Egypt, President Barack Obama took time out of his golf game in Martha’s Vineyard to announce the cancellation of Bright Star, the joint American-Egyptian military exercise that was slated to take place next month. What he is not going to cancel, however, is the stupendous and steady flow of dollars to the interim government in Cairo.

Ruthie Blum is the author of “To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the ‘Arab Spring.'”