Egypt’s FM says media ‘twisted’ comments on Israeli violence

Some local and international media reports suggested the minister made such remarks during a Sunday gathering with the country’s top-ranked high school students.

But the ministry said such claims have “twisted” official statements and aim to undermine Egypt’s “continuous backing” of Palestinian rights.

The ministry said in a statement late Monday that Shoukry’s remarks were not about the killing of “innocent Palestinian children.” It said he replied to a general question about the international community’s failure to define Israeli practices against Palestinians as terrorism.

“The ministry’s response refered to the absence of an international agreement on a specific legal definition of terrorism and a global disagreement over the distinction between the legal and the political overtones of the term terrorism and the definition of the concept of state terrorism,” the statement read.

The ministry said that Shoukry stressed during the meeting Cairo’s “full support for Palestinian rights which will remain the focus of attention of the Egyptian foreign ministry.”

Cairo supports a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which would see the creation of a sovereign Palestine.

source: Ahram Online