Via MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a statement by Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, which aired on Channel 1 Egyptian TV on September 8, 2014:

Sheikh Al-Azhar: All the [fundamentalist terrorist groups] are the new products of imperialism, in the service of global Zionism in its new version, and its plot to destroy the [Middle] East and tear region apart. Our evidence for this is the Western American hesitancy and foot-dragging in confronting these terrorist organizations, as compared with the Western onslaught on the Iraqi state in 2003, for example, and the disbanding of the Iraqi army in record time and under fabricated reasons and false pretexts, as well as the providing of justifications that lead one to believe that the people there [the West] interpret security, peace, and human rights to be nothing other than their own peace and security, and human rights exclusively for the whites.

Obama in 2009 praising al-Azhar during his speech in Egypt to the Islamic world.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning; and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt’s advancement. And together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I’m grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. And I’m also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: Assalaamu alaykum.