A spokesman for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said on Wednesday, January 16 that inflammatory comments he made about Jews before taking office had been intended as criticism of “racist” Israeli policies toward the Palestinians but had been taken out of context, The New York Times reported. The spokesman told a visiting delegation of six American senators led by John McCain (R-AZ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) that Morsi respected all monotheistic religions and religious freedom. It was Morsi’s first public response to news reports that as a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood he had made anti-Semitic statements about Jews and Zionists. A recently resurfaced video of a speech that Morsi gave at a rally nearly three years ago shows him urging his listeners “to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.” The White House and State Department condemned the comments.