Former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi died on Monday at the age of 67 after passing out during a court session.
The Muslim Brotherhood member led Egypt from 2012, following the ouster of longtime head Hosni Mubarak, until Morsi was ousted himself in 2013 following massive demonstrations, primarily in Cairo.
Morsi was known to have a negative view of Israel and condemned the Jewish state’s “Operation Pillar of Defense” in the fall of 2012, response to rockets launched by Hamas in Gaza towards Israel.
In 2010, Morsi said, “The Zionists have no right to the land of Palestine. There is no place for them on the land of Palestine. What they took before 1947-48 constitutes plunder, and what they are doing now is a continuation of this plundering. By no means do we recognize their Green Line. The land of Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, not to the Zionists.”
That same year, he called Israelis “blood-suckers,” “warmongers,” and “descendants of apes and pigs.”
Morsi lived for a time in the United States, working as an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge, from 1982 to 1985. An expert on precision metal surfaces, he also worked with NASA in the early 1980s, helping to develop engines for space shuttles.
In 1985, Morsi quit his job at CSUN and returned to Egypt, becoming a professor at Zagazig University, where he was appointed head of the engineering department. He was a lecturer in the engineering department there until 2010.
He was first elected to parliament in 2000.
In response to his death, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “May Allah rest our Morsi brother, our martyr’s soul in peace.”
