NO CHRISTIAN OR JEW IS SAFE IN A MUSLIM DICTATORSHIP AND THEY ARE ALL DICTATORSHIPS
Egypt: Crumbling Walls and False Façades
President al-Sisi publicly vows goodwill to Christians while an ancient and long-neglected monastery collapses.
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Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. This article is reprinted from Coptic Solidarity.
While “January 6” has, since 2021, been deemed a significant date for America—in the context of the Capitol riot, which is of far more significance to some than others—that date has long been important for millions of Orthodox Christians around the world, as it is the date of “Christmas Eve” (per the older Julian calendar), which is celebrated in church.
During this last January 6, 2022, two things happened that well capture the place of Christianity (Coptic Orthodoxy) in Egypt, one of the first nations to embrace and champion the faith (until the seventh century Islamic conquest, when it went on to become a minority and persecuted faith).
First, during the Nativity Mass conducted by Coptic Pope Tawadros II inside one of Egypt’s largest cathedrals in Cairo this last January 6, President al-Sisi arrived to congratulate the Christians of his nation and speak of Egyptian “solidarity,” irrespective of religion.
Al-Sisi is famous for engaging in this sort of gesture and rhetoric, which the Copts tend to appreciate. After all, the last time an Egyptian president behaved in the same manner—entering and congratulating the Christians on Christmas Eve inside their cathedral—was 1954 (President Muhammad Naguib). Moreover, every year Islamic preachers in Egypt call on Muslims not to acknowledge the “infidel” holiday of Christmas (as this woman did this year).
Even so, while al-Sisi’s gesture was largely appreciated, some Copts found it somewhat misplaced and distasteful. Their position is well captured by the views of Coptic researcher Dioscorus Boles:
Last night, I watched, like millions of Copts from across the world, the Liturgy of Holy Nativity that was broadcast from the Cathedral of the Holy Nativity of Christ … which was officiated by Pope Tawadros II. And how embarrassing it was!
The church was full with Egypt’s political and military personnel, occupying the front seats, and in the back Muslims, men and woman, who were supporters of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Egypt’s President, all raising his pictures and banners hailing the secular ruler. Chaos reigned, with all chatting to each other, speaking on their mobiles, laughing and waiving at the cameras. Then the prayers got stopped by the appearance of President al-Sisi; Pope Tawadros II going out to receive him, and then the President and the Pope, followed by the bishops of the Church, go in, and everything was interrupted by al-Sisi delivering a speech in which he congratulated the Copts and emphasised the unity of Egypt’s two religions. Security forces filled the space and camera men roamed here and there each keen about registering the still photographs of every move of the President and his men. Then Pope Tawadros II read from script mentioning and thanking all who congratulated or visited him on the occasion from Egypt regime’s political and military echelon.
It was more like a political festival than a solemn religious one, celebrating the birth of the incarnated Son of God for the salvation of mankind from its sins.
In a word: the service lost its dignity, and was not more about Christ but about al-Sisi …
To be sure, many Copts feel the same way, while others insist that such concessions are a necessary evil, that the Copts, beginning with their pope, have little choice but to play the role of grateful and accommodating dhimmi, lest they risk offending their Muslim overlords, particularly one seen as sympathetic.
Be that as it may. The dichotomy I personally found interesting was much more subtle and unremarked upon and has to do with something else that occurred on Orthodox Christmas Eve, January 6, 2022. Even as the pope and president were publicly exchanging vows of good will, the walls of an ancient Coptic monastery, founded in 442 AD, came crumbling down—and continued crumbling into Orthodox Christmas Day itself, January 7 (video here)—due to governmental negligence concerning those Egyptian antiquities that just so happen to be distinctly Christian. The monastery’s abbot had repeatedly submitted requests to repair their dilapidated and ancient walls, but the Antiquities Department has yet to issue a permit. Even after the collapses of January 6-7, a “committee” did make a perfunctory appearance and submitted a report to Antiquities—though still no permit has been forthcoming.
One can, of course, mention any number of other, more urgent problems that the Copts suffer—from the continued dearth of and strong restrictions on building churches, to the abduction and forced conversion of Coptic girls, not to mention the continued exclusion of Copts from all high profile state posts—but the quiet collapse of the walls of an ancient Christian monastery is in many ways more emblematic of the slow and silent suffocation that lurks behind the walls of religious discrimination—or rather façade of religious solidarity.
Don't Be Fooled. Attack by Lady Al-Qaeda Islamist Against Texas Synagogue Was Motivated by Anti-Semitism
By Rabbi Aryeh Spero | January 20, 2022 | 10:07am EST
The hostage-taking of a rabbi and three congregants at the Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Tex. Saturday by Malik Faisal Akram was not simply to coerce authorities to free Aafia Siddiqui, known as Lady Al Qaeda, but itself specifically an act against Jews in their foremost institution: a synagogue.
It was not random.
This needs to be said inasmuch as the FBI is suggesting that the selection of a synagogue was simply a coincidence. To those following the growing anti-Semitism, actual Jew-hatred, in the American Muslim community, the attack that happened Saturday was the latest in a long list of Islamists targeting Jews and synagogues, from New York/New Jersey in the east across the country to California in the west.
As the attack was unfolding and it became apparent that a radical Islamist was spearheading the attack, we anticipated there would be all types of excuses supplied by law enforcement and the Biden Administration, attributing the horror to some other motive extraneous to Islamist anti-Semitism. We would hear, as dozens of times in the last fifteen years, that the perpetrator was “mentally unstable,” and that he was a “lone wolf.” The fact that the perpetrator was from a far-away English city near Manchester, had collaborators there, and just recently came to America indisputably points to a deliberate selection of a synagogue here in America. This cannot be attributed to some local who happened to be walking in the neighborhood and coincidentally passed a synagogue. Out of political correctness, or fear of being called Islamophobic, or because the Muslim community has become an integral and necessary component of the Democrat machine, the FBI, the media, and powerful voices routinely censor reasonable propositions that point to danger to the Jewish community from elements within Islamist circles here in America.
Until a decade ago, the FBI monitored certain enclaves and imams fomenting Jew-hatred. For the reasons mentioned above, they appear to have suspended these programs. The same unfortunately can be said of the U.S. Department of Justice. The downside to the cessation of vital monitoring is expanding attacks by American Muslims against innocent Jews walking in the streets, going to synagogue, eating at kosher restaurants, and wearing their yarmulkes or any noticeable Jewish piece of clothing. It is distressing that in today’s liberal and woke-controlled society, Jew-hatred seems to be an acceptable activity if performed by certain, more preferred minorities.
One of the hostages in the synagogue, Jeffrey Cohen, told reporters that Akram spent a good deal of his initial attack denouncing Jews. In fact, Lady Al Qaeda, who is in prison for attempting to murder U.S. soldiers and in whose cause Mr. Akram was holding hostages at the synagogue, is a notorious hater of Jews and Israel and throughout her trial demanded that no Zionist Jew be allowed to sit on the jury. Many high-profile and lesser known imams look to the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion to blame Jews for the world’s problems and specifically Islam’s difficulties. This attitude originated with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a Muslim collaborator with Adolf Hitler in the final extermination of the Jewish people during World War II. Unfortunately, this Grand Mufti is held in highest esteem among all Islamic leaders in the last century and thus his Jew-hatred had been codified, distributed, and is continually being acted upon by those adherents who feel they are fulfilling the wishes of their Grand Imam.
That anti-Semitism is growing exponentially within the American Muslim community is a fact that cannot be denied. Professor Abdullah Antepli at Duke University wrote after the attack that: “We Muslims living [in] North America undeniably have an increasing anti-Semitic problem....We need to honestly discuss the increasing anti-Semitism within various Muslim communities.”
Indeed, many Muslims within modern American cities are routinely referring to Jews as “enemies.” This is incendiary and without doubt foments the actions we saw in Texas and have witnessed across America in the last decade. Labeling someone with whom you disagree as an “enemy” and calling for retribution against them is an old-world, tribal attitude being imported into this country. Until recently, the American disposition was to disagree civilly in large part because we shared an overriding commonality as Americans. As this transcendent pride and kinship in being American dissipates and, worse, is castigated by today’s identity politics and wokeness that purposely separates us and pits us against each other, we will see more attacks by those who brand Jews and others (whites) as “the enemy.”
There is no doubt that Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s blessings and embrace of the “Squad” -- which demonstrates extreme anti-Israel attitudes and even anti-Jewish sentiment -- is allowing this anti-Semitism to grow when coming from the constituencies of the Squad members Pelosi befriends. As former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said: “How are we going to expect to keep America-hating, anti-Semitic terrorists out of our synagogues when we can't even keep them out of Congress?"
Three years ago, when we asked Speaker Pelosi to condemn anti-Semitism as a stand-alone evil, Pelosi would not do so out of fear of offending certain minority constituencies vital to her party. Pelosi’s obsession with victory and power is culminating in an acceptance of anti-Semitism, notwithstanding all her flowery protestations and calls against “hate.” The confluence of ignored anti-Semitism growing in the American Muslim community and unwillingness by leftists to denounce it when coming from their constituents portends a danger to America and its Jewish community. To our regret, too many establishment Jewish organizations whose first and foremost loyalty appears to be leftwing ideology and wokeism and not the defense and dignity of the Jewish people are silent enablers of this worrisome phenomenon afflicting today’s American political scene.
Rabbi Aryeh Spero is the president of Caucus for America, spokesman for the Conference of Jewish Affairs, and author of "Push Back: The Battle to Save our American Judeo-Christian Heritage."
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