Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry (Photo: AP)
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shokri says he is deeply angered by comments made by an Egyptian private TV anchor which insulted the Moroccan people.
In a discussion with editors of Egyptian newspapers on Thursday, Shokri said that the relationship between Egypt and the Morocco have been excellent since 3 July, 2013.
The foreign minister's comments came in an apparent reference to an offensive diatribe launched on Wednesday by a daytime anchor Amany El-Khayat of the privately owned satellite ONTV against Morocco after Hamas leader khaled Meshaal appealed to the kingdom for support against the current deadly Israeli assault on Gaza.
El-Khayat, a staunch opponent of Islamist movements including Hamas, claimed that Morocco's King Mohammed VI brokered a power-sharing deal with Islamist leaders during the outbreak of the Arab revolts in early 2011 – a time when many Islamists were pushing for top positions across the Arab world.
She then added that Morocco's economy was based on prostitution and – as proof – asked the audience to Google the ranking of Morocco in terms of AIDS prevalence.
"Any insult to the Moroccan people is entirely unacceptable," Shokri said.
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