Egypt’s Morsi: Comments about Jews taken out of context

BERLIN — Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi is defending comments that he made in 2010 referring to Jews as “the descendants of apes and pigs,” saying that they were taken out of context.

Morsi’s criticized remarks came from a mix of speeches he made in 2010 when he was a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure. The remarks were revived when an Egyptian TV show aired them this month to highlight and mock Morsi’s current policies.

Speaking after a meeting Wednesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she brought up the comments in her talks with the Egyptian leader, Morsi said he was “not against the Jewish faith or the Jewish people.”

He says “my comments were about conduct that sheds blood and kills innocent people — things neither I ... nor anyone condones.”