President Barack Obama’s spokesman is downplaying venomously anti-Semitic statements by Egypt’s new Islamist president, who said that Jews are “apes and pigs” and must be hated by Muslim children. Egypt’s president, Mohammed Morsi, “has demonstrated in word and deed his commitment to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. … He obviously worked with us to resolve … a ceasefire … — in the Gaza conflict last year,” spokesman Jay Carney said during the Jan. 15 White House press conference.