Last week an Egyptian politician urged Jewish people to leave Israel in order to "make room for the Palestinians" and said Israel will cease to exist in the next decade, according to a translation of his remarks.
Issam al Aryan, deputy chairman of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party, called on Jews of Egyptian descent to return to Egypt.
"I wish the Jews would return to Egypt in order to make room for the Palestinians," al Aryan said on Egyptian television last week, according to a translation of his remarks by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
"The Palestinians would return to their country and the Arab Jews would return to their countries," continued al Aryan, who serves as an adviser to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. "Every Egyptian has the right to return, especially if he would be making room for a Palestinian. I want to enable the Palestinians to return to their land."
Al Aryan went on to ask why Jews have chosen to "live in a racist, occupying entity. Why do you allow yourselves to be soiled with war crimes for which all of the occupation leaders will be punished? They will not escape punishment."
Al Aryan has scrambled to explain his remarks in recent days following a backlash, according to reports. He went on to say, "there will be no such thing as Israel" in the coming decade, YNet reported.
Al Aryan’s remarks come on the heels of several other anti-Israel and anti-Semitic remarks made by prominent Egyptian religious figures following the passage of a controversial Islamist constitution.
Middle East observers and Israeli officials continue to remain wary of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood as it seeks to solidify its political rule over Egypt.
Egyptian cleric Mahmoud al Masri recently said that the country’s revolution has helped lead to "the end of Israel," according to MEMRI.
"Allah willing, Israel will be annihilated because the prophet Muhammad said so," al Masri said while celebrating the Muslim Brotherhood’s control over the country. "Ultimately, not a single Jew will be left on the face of the earth."
Muslim religious leaders have also threatened violence against the country’s Christian population.
Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi threatened all Christians who do not support President Morsi.
"If anyone splashes water on this legitimacy, we will splash him with blood," Higazi said during a rally in mid-December, according to MEMRI.