Category Archives: Egypt
Egypt cleric ‘to ban full veils’
- The niqab has become increasingly popular among Egypt’s Muslim radicals
BBC NEWS… Egypt’s highest Muslim authority has said he will issue a religious edict against the growing trend for full women’s veils, known as the niqab.
Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, dean of al-Azhar university, called full-face veiling a custom that has nothing to do with the Islamic faith.
Although most Muslim women in Egypt wear the Islamic headscarf, increasing numbers are adopting the niqab as well.
The practice is widely associated with more radical trends of Islam.
The niqab question reportedly arose when Sheikh Tantawi was visiting a girls’ school in Cairo at the weekend and asked one of the students to remove her niqab.
The Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Yom quoted him expressing surprise at the girl’s attire and telling her it was merely a tradition, with no connection to religion or the Koran.
Three Left Wing Myths About Israel (with an extra bonus myth!)
This essay by Sultan Knish: H/T Solstace reposted with permission of the good sultan with thanks.
Myth 1: “Israel was created because Europe felt guilty about the Holocaust.”
This left wing myth has been widely repeated, most recently by Desmond Tutu. While blatantly false on a level that even the most serious anti-Israel historian can recognize, it persists because its function is to delegitimize as the product of post-war colonial guilt, rather than longstanding Israeli national aspirations.
Israel was not created in 1947. By 1947, Israel already was a functioning country with a language, culture, agriculture, universities, newspapers and military forces which proved capable of defending against the armies of several Arab nations. The only thing that happened after the Holocaust was a UN vote in 1947 was for a partition plan that was never implemented because the Arab world instead chose to try and destroy Israel. Israel however would have declared independence and fought for its own survival, with the same exact outcome, regardless of UN Resolution 181. This vote is often described as creating Israel, but it was more accurately an attempt to settle the borders of Israel that failed because of Arab genocidal hostility that expressed itself not only toward Israel, but toward the Jews living in Arab lands.
Nor did post-war European colonialism create Israel. Britain, which was the colonial power in the region, was against Israel’s independence and abstained in the UN vote. The majority of votes for Resolution 181 came from non-European countries, primarily in Latin America and Eastern Europe, such as Bolivia, Brazil, Panama, Peru and Poland, Ukraine and the Soviet Union. 7 European countries voted Yes, most of them Northern European states such as Sweden and Denmark, which experienced only a limited impact of the Holocaust. 12 Latin American countries voted Yes. Twice the number. And all of them countries that had their own national aspirations and had fought against colonialism.
Post-Holocaust guilt was not the reason Resolution 181 passed. Less than a third of the 33 votes came from countries where the Holocaust had taken place. The reasons were varied and different. Some Latin American countries identified with Israel’s national aspirations and some sought economic ties. Truman was influenced by the desire for Jewish votes in an upcoming election. The Soviet Union wanted to sabotage Britain’s colonial program. The motives of different countries were varied and complex. Iran for example voted against the resolution and yet became the second country to recognize the new State of Israel.
Left wing activists may insist that Resolution 181 was a racist act, but in fact half the countries who voted for it were non-white, and most of the countries who voted for it were non-European. Therefore the myth that Israel was created after the Holocaust by guilty Europeans, a myth that has been bandied about by everyone from Desmond Tutu to Wallace Shawn to Barack Obama is just that, a myth. Israel would have existed regardless of the Holocaust or UN Resolution 181, which was voted for primarily by non-European countries in any case. Those who repeat the myth are therefore demonstrating either extreme ignorance or extreme deceptiveness.
Myth 2: “European Nations Gave the Jews a Land Already Inhabited by a People.”
This is one of the more common myths that seeks to strike at the legitimacy of the creation of the modern state of Israel, and treats the Jews as a foreign body within the land. This is a continuation of the anti-semitic stereotypes of the Jews as eternal wanderers and eternal foreigners.
The fact of the matter is that Jews had an ongoing presence in the land going back thousands of years, that was only interrupted by massacres and expulsions, after which the Jews population would once again attempt to reestablish itself. Greek, Roman, Arab and Ottoman colonialism expelled Jewish populations and attempted to replace them with their own populations in order to gain a foothold in the land. Unlike them however the Jews remained the land’s indigenous population. Continue Reading →
DC: Egyptian Coptic Christians Protest for Human Rights, Equality, as President Obama Meets Mubarak
From R.E.A.L:
On August 18, 2009 in Washington DC, Egyptian Christian Copts and their supporters protested on Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street near the White House as President Barack Obama met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Egyptian Coptic leaders included Voice of the Copts‘ president Dr. Ashraf Ramelah and National American Coptic Assembly’s Morris Sadek, representatives of the American Coptic Union, and other Egyptian Coptic leaders representing the Coptic American organizations around the country. Responsible for Equality And Liberty’s Jeffrey Imm and other human rights supporters also joined this protest. The August 18 protest near the White House followed an August 17, 2009 press conference by Coptic leaders at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
During the protest, Coptic leaders called for President Obama to demand that Egyptian President Mubarak recognize the human rights and dignity of Egyptian Coptic Christians who are oppressed in Egyptian. Speakers pointed out the ongoing oppression of Egyptian Copts, who are treated as second-class citizens, how Egyptian Copts are pressured into accepting “Islam by force,” and how Egyptian Coptic girls are kidnapped and raped. Coptic leaders called upon Americans to contact President Obama and to contact their Congressional representatives and demand support for the human rights and freedom of religion of Christians Copts oppressed in Egypt.
Due to construction in front of the White House, the Coptic protesters gathered nearby at 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue marching in the nearby area and standing on street corners to protest the continuing oppression of the Copts, which has mostly been ignored by the American news media.
The Copts, persecution of Christians in Egypt
Link: 
If You Convert You Die
By: Nonie Darwish
FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, August 03, 2009 (H/T Alex)
Very few people in the West know what is going on inside the Muslim world and what it portends for them. The fact is that through the dominant media, such as CNN, Americans are subjected to much of the same misinformation with regard to Islam that I grew up with inside the Muslim world. The result is that Americans are in the dark attempting to formulate their strategy of how to defend themselves against the threat of terror, domestic jihad and Sharia. While Americans get ridiculed for being “Islamophobes,” the Muslim world itself is undergoing a huge and painful awakening.
For instance, a prominent Egyptian lawyer and women’s rights activist, Nagla Al Imam, recently announced her conversion to Christianity in Cairo, Egypt. The announcement brought shock waves in and beyond Egypt. This is perhaps the first case ever of its kind, where a Muslim woman, who is also a Sharia expert, has openly challenged Islamic apostasy laws from within the Muslim world.
Ms. Al Imam’s incredible courage was on display in an internet chat room, where she announced that she is not afraid, will stand up for the human rights of apostates and refuses to leave her homeland, Egypt. This was immediately followed by attacks and calls (‘fatwas’) for death of the 36 year-old graduate of Al Azhar Islamic University.
Egyptian media not only reported the threat but also participated in the attacks. Ms. Al Imam was literally entrapped by a TV station ‘Al Mihwar’ with the pretext of inviting her for an interview. Upon arrival to the TV studio she was told the show she was to appear on was cancelled. She was then taken forcibly to a room where she was held against her will for hours inside the studio. She was assaulted, threatened and insulted by several people. She was able to escape, and went to her internet chat room telling the world what happened and said she will demand protection from the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Continue Reading →
Stratfor: Egypt: Plot To Kill Israeli Ambassador Uncovered
Egypt: Plot To Kill Israeli Ambassador Uncovered
August 8, 2009
Egyptian security forces uncovered a plot to kill Israel’s ambassador to Egypt and have arrested the suspects involved in the plan, Al-Masri Al-Youm reported Aug. 8. The suspects are members of the Zeitoun militant group, and according to security officials have been planning since 2007 to shoot Ambassador Shalom Cohen and blow up his home and the Israeli Embassy in Cairo. During their interrogation, the suspects claimed they were unable to get close enough to carry out their plan due to heavy Israeli security. The men also claimed to have trained in the Gaza Strip for the attack, and said they were also planning to blow up an Israeli-Egyptian natural gas pipeline, and Christian and Muslim religious sites in Egypt. Egyptian officials said the suspects likely did not have the capability to carry out the attacks.
The Copts Gather in D.C. to Challenge Mubarak
This post unabashedly copied from Gates Of Vienna.
Voice of the Copts has announced a demonstration to be held in front of the White House on the occasion of Egyptian President Mubarak’s visit to the U.S. on August 18th – next Tuesday.
They are joined in this effort to hold a peaceful rally by the National American Coptic Assembly and the American Coptic Union.
Voice of the Copts describes their mission:
Our goal is to report news of discrimination and oppression of religious minorities in every corner of our planet. A special attention will be given to those taking place in countries ruled by the Arabs, as well as providing an in-depth explanation of their mentality, behaviour and their way of living.
Since we are Copts, events of interest to the Copts concerning issues in their homeland, Egypt, will be covered, Our website would be an open window on the Coptic culture, as well as a comprehensive source of information on the Copts’ suffering in their own land.
The Copts are an ancient people. In fact, the name in Arabic means “Egyptian”, or at least it did. The fact that they survive at all after a millennium of slaughter and persecution is testimony to the strength and determination of this people. Despite the ongoing, endless inequity they experience in their native land, they have managed to maintain a precarious existence in the face of hatred and mindless attacks.
Consider the Copts a safety valve the Arab usurpers use to keep their own people in line. The latter have to queue up for necessities like bread, even though their government receives large subsidies from the West. When government is as corrupt as it is in Egypt, people suffer hardships. Thus, the Copts are a handy distraction to keep the attention of the larger population focused on something besides Mubarak’s feckless governance.
Many people are not aware of the flowering of Christianity very early on in Egypt. In the second century, it had begun to spread through the region. The apostle Mark is credited with mission work in Alexandria, and it wasn’t long before Anthony (born c. 270 A.D.), founded the cenobitic monasticism movement in Egypt. Pachomius learned from Anthony, though he was more interested in an eremitic, communal monasticism. Centuries before Benedict founded monasteries in the West, Christian monastic communities were flourishing all over North Africa and the Middle East.
After the invasions of the Muslims and the beginnings of serious slaughter, any discernible level of North African Christianity disappeared. But this didn’t happen in Egypt. North African Christians (Bishop Augustine of Hippo was one) belonged to the urban areas and to the educated elite, who were Romanized. None of those Christian leaders envisioned their theology or ecclesiology as something that belonged to the rural areas. To the extent that they “evangelized” the message was directed to urban populations.
Coptic Christianity, in contrast, went all the way to the bone. There were churches in even the smallest villages and the numerous monasteries were centers of learning, not just of Greek scripture, but also of an indigenous Coptic language collection of scripture, sermons, and hermeneutic theses. These codices and scrolls were revered by those charged with their keeping. Eventually, the murdering hordes would attack and destroy the great majority of these works, but it would take many centuries to penetrate from the cities into the hinterlands of Egypt.
The invaders found the native Copts useful. They were intelligent and literate so the Copts established a precarious niche as the clerical staff for their unschooled rulers. This didn’t mean the persecutions ceased. Rather, it guaranteed that the Copts would be harassed, intimidated, killed or kidnapped here and there when the occasion presented itself, but there would be no outright Final Solution. The Copts were always too useful to dispose of entirely.
[Here are the other sections of this story: Part Two and Part Three]
MEMRI: Interview with Coptic leader
Here is a heartbreaking interview with the leader of the Egyptian Coptic community. After seeing this, I understand why Canada elects every second Prime Minister as a French speaker from Quebec. This Coptic seems to me to show a broken and defeated community, and the Copts where in fact the dominant group in Egypt before they where attacked, slaughtered and most forcibly converted by Mohamed’s armies. Below this MEMRI clip, please see the excellent history of Egypt and Islam by Occidental Soapbox:
Muslims Abduct Two Christian Coptic Girls in Egypt
(AINA) — Mrs. Samira Markos, who lives in Alexandria, sent an appeal to Egypt4Christ advocacy, pleading with them to rescue her daughter from forced Islamization. The mother said that her daughter Amira Morgan (born 9/9/1992) was abducted on 7-18-2009 on her way to work in the plastics factory near their home.
Egypt4Christ sent one of its members in Alexandria to verify the mother’s plea and met with one of the family relatives who corroborated the story.
“At 10 o’clock of the same morning someone called me and asked if I was Amira’s mother. He introduced himself as Sheikh Mohammed, and said that my daughter is fine and will convert to Islam,” the mother said. “When I cried and begged him to let me have my daughter back, he said he would let me see her again after her conversion to Islam, and ended the call. I tried calling that cell phone back several time, but there never was a reply.”
The mother went to El-Sennin Mosque in her neighbourhood at 1.30 PM, after the Muslim noon prayers, and asked a bearded man emerging from the Mosque regarding Sheikh Mohammed, he laughed and said they have more than fifty Sheikh Mohammeds.
“When I started to cry at the Mosque entrance, one of them came to me and said ‘Listen, mother of Amira, I am warning you not to report the abduction to the police or do anything, the price will be your son Meena (9 years old) being slaughtered in front of your own eyes. I am not threatening, I’m talking seriously.'” He further said “Listen, your daughter Amira will convert to Islam next Friday, and we are now preparing her for that. Now go home and stay indoors until everything is quietly over.” Continue Reading →
Africa Vs. The Arab World. Excellent article from Forbes
Why does Obama treat the two so differently?
Africa Vs. The Arab World
Anne Bayefsky, 07.12.09, 01:55 PM EDT
Why does Obama treat the two so differently?
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h/t Alex A
Speaking in Ghana on Saturday President Obama lectured Africans on local repression, corruption, brutality, good governance and accountability. The startling contrast to his June speech in Cairo was revealing. Stroking Muslim and Arab nations has become the hallmark of Obama’s foreign policy.
In Egypt, he chose not to utter the words “terrorism” or “genocide.” In Egypt, there was nothing “brutal” he could conjure up, no “corruption” and no “repression”.
In Ghana, with a 70% Christian population, he mentioned “good governance” seven times and added direct calls upon his audience to “make change from the bottom up.” He praised “people taking control of their destiny” and pressed “young people” to “hold your leaders accountable.”
He made no such calls for action by the people of Arab states–despite the fact that not a single Arab country is “free,” according to the latest Freedom House global survey.
Before the Muslim world Obama donned the role of apologist-in-chief. Over and over again his examples of shortfalls in the protection of rights and freedoms were American: the “prison at Guantanamo Bay,” “rules on charitable giving [that] have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation,” impediments to the “choice” of Muslim women to shroud their bodies.
Christian Africa was to be treated to no such self-flagellation. In a rare tongue-lashing for Africans from any American president, he chastised: “It’s easy to point fingers and to pin the blame of these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense helped to breed conflict … But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy … or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants … tribalism and patronage and nepotism … and … corruption.”
He might equally have said to the Arab and Muslim world: “It’s easy to scapegoat Israel and blame your problems on the presence of Jews–albeit on a fraction of 1% of the territory inhabited by the Arab world–but Israel is not responsible for poverty, illiteracy, torture, trafficking, slavery and oppression rampant across your countries.” But he did not.
In Ghana he pointed to specific heroes that had exposed human rights abuse, singling out by name a courageous investigative reporter. In Egypt, though journalists and bloggers are routinely threatened, jailed and worse, no such brave soul came to mind.
In a Christian African nation he said, “If we are honest, for far too many Africans, conflict is a part of life, as constant as the sun. There are wars over land and wars over resources. And it is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes.”
To the Arab and Muslim world he could have said: “Since the day of Israel’s birth Arab and Muslim countries have made conflict with Israel a part of life, warring over land and manipulating whole communities into fighting in the name of Islam to render the area Judenrein.” Continue Reading →
Muslims Set Church Ablaze But Egyptian Security Implicates a Christian Copt
From The Force of Reason blog:
So what do you want to do this Saturday? Watch some cartoons? Shoot some hoops? Read a book? Mow the lawn? Hey, I know, let’s burn down a church in full view of some cops and watch its congregants get dragged away to be tortured and falsely convicted. Totally!
It’s not a weekend in Egypt without some horrific crime perpetrated against the Copts.
By my girl Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — In a continuation of the ongoing wave of arson attacks on Coptic places of worship, the Church of St. Abaskharion Kellini, in the village of Ezbet Bassilious, Beni Mazar, was burnt down at noon on July 11 by Muslim village inhabitants. No one was injured.
A source in Bani Mazar Diocese told Free Copts advocacy the fire was instigated and directed as usual by State Security, aiming “to prevent prayers in new churches throughout both the Upper Egyptian provinces of Minya and of Beni Suef.”
Reverend Abraham Phillobos, pastor of the torched Church told Coptic News Bulletin that the Security authorities are trying to falsely implicate the Copt Reda Gamal.
The Church was officially inaugurated on July 3 by the Bishop of Beni Mazar and was licensed for prayer. It was closed on that same day by State Security ‘for security reasons and to avert a sectarian crisis,’ and was placed under continuous guard. Continue Reading →
More Copt persecution in Egypt.
For regular and full reports on how Coptic Christians, arguably the worlds oldest direct line of Christians on earth are facing brutal persecution at the hands of Egyptian Muslims please read Force of Reason. Below is a recent report:
“The village Muslims circulated a ‘rumour’ that the Copts will convert the social services building belonging to the Coptic Diocese of Beba and El-Fashn into a church, resulting in Muslims completely burning down two houses belonging to Christians and attempting to burn down two cars belonging to the church and the priest by pouring kerosene over them,” said Diocese spokesman Reverend Abdul Quddus Hanna to Copts United. “The fire brigade arrived 90 minutes later. The State Security then incited the Muslim villagers against the Copts, leading to clashes between them. Twelve Copts and five Muslims have been arrested and charged with assault.”
The village of Guirgis Bey which is inhabited by nearly 500 Muslims and 2000 Copts has been placed under curfew. Continue Reading →
Israeli PM ‘ruins’ peace chance
For any Muslim to acknowledge Israels right to exist goes against all they are taught. The Qu’ran and Islamic scholars have made it very clear that it is the duty of Muslims to terrorize and kill Jews where ever they are found. Peace with Israel/Jews is un-Islamic and blasphemy.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says an Israeli demand that Palestinians accept Israel as a Jewish state ruins the chances for a peace deal.
The demand was one of two conditions set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he backed the creation of a Palestinian state for the first time.
He also asked that a Palestinian state be demilitarised. Palestinians have rejected the conditions.
The US has called Mr Netenyahu’s stance an “important step forward”.
The EU said Mr Netanyahu’s comments were a step in the right direction, but not enough to raise relations with Israel to a higher level.
Egypt was the first Arab state to recognise Israel and a key mediator in Middle East peace negotiations.
Mr Mubarak said on Monday that he had told Mr Netanyahu that peace talks should be resumed.
“I have also told him loud and clear that the call for recognising Israel as a Jewish state would complicate matters and abort the chances of peace,” the state-run Mena news agency quoted Mr Mubarak as telling military officials.
“I even warned him that this particular call would not be met by a favourable response from Egypt or beyond.”
The Egyptian foreign ministry said it would continue to support US and international peace efforts, but that “the vision which the Israeli prime minister presented… is flawed and lacks many elements.”
Mr Mubarak was responding to Mr Netanyahu’s speech on Sunday in which he endorsed a Palestinian state for the first time.
Israeli Arabs’ fears Continue Reading →
Obama in Cairo
[kaltura-widget wid=”xjltwe4zyo” width=”410″ height=”364″ addpermission=”3″ editpermission=”3″ /]Apparently there is another Islam out there. Listen as Obama makes reference to this peaceful, tolerant and progressive Islam.
Transcript of Obama’s June 04 speech in Cairo
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. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am 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.
We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world – tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.
Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust. Continue Reading →