Egypt Tells UN Israel to Blame for Islamic Terrorism

Egypt, speaking at the UN Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism in Geneva on April 7, 2016, claimed that Israel and "defamation of religion" - meaning criticism of Islamist terror - were main causes of terrorism, not Islamist ideology. In its words:

"The Report or Plan by the SG [UN Secretary General] lay down 5 main drivers namely; Lack of socioeconomic opportunities - Marginalization and discrimination- Poor governance, violations of human rights and the rule of law- Prolonged and unresolved conflicts- Radicalization in prisons. I would agree with both socioeconomic opportunities and prolonged and unresolved conflicts as well as long-time grievances as we have seen in Palestine, especially Gaza... Meanwhile, there are other main drivers to violent extremism or terrorism that were not identified in the SG Plan of Action such as (1) foreign domination and occupation that deny peoples the opportunity to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination, (2) racism and xenophobia, (3) defamation of religion... "