Bernard-Henri Levy, the French-Jewish philosopher, is revered by some but thought by others to be part of some strange conspiracy theories, like one that insists the author used telekinesis to help bring down former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in July.
Turkish news outlets have been spewing conspiracy theories centered on Levy ever since Morsi left his post. In August, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, went on Turkish television and publicly blamed Levy and Israel for Morsi's overthrow.
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The accusation irked many, including Robert Zaretsky at The Jewish Daily Forward.
"These remarks [blaming Levy for Morsi's ousting] are, to be sure, provocative and debatable. But to flaunt them as evidence of a global Jewish conspiracy goes beyond provocation and debate," he wrote this week. "One need not be a historian to trace the intellectual and ideological pedigree of Erdogan’s claim, one rooted in the political anti-Semitism spawned by the great economic, social, and cultural changes in late 19th-century Europe."
Zaretsky slammed Levy's critics and urged them to look at the intellectual's accomplishments.
"While critics dismiss his books and essays, his love of the media and self-mythologizing, they cannot dismiss BHL's constancy on behalf of the victims of genocide, and his fury-like pursuit of those who carry out these crimes," he wrote. "Best known, perhaps, is the pivotal role he played in persuading then-president Nicolas Sarkozy to intervene militarily in Libya. Over the past few weeks, not only has Henri-Levy denounced the murderous actions of the Egyptian generals, but he also advocates the immediate freezing of all military and economic aid to the regime."
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