My sentiments exactly. Ted Belman
Referring to perceived sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood by western media outlets, the statement, translated by Al Arabiya, called on the West to “read objectively the facts of events, and not give international and political cover to these terrorists and bloody groups.”
The church reaffirmed its support for the Egyptian authorities, following the ouster of Muhammed Morsi.
“The Egyptian Coptic Church is following the unfortunate developments on the ground of our country Egypt and emphasizes its strong stance with the Egyptian police, armed forces and other organizations of the Egyptian people in the face of groups of armed violence and black terrorism.
“While we appreciate the sincere and friendly position that understands the nature of the developments, we strongly deplore the media fallacies that are prevalent in Western countries,” the statement read.
Egypt’s Coptic Christian community makes up around 10% of the country’s 90 million-strong population. Copts are indigenous to Egypt, their presence predating the Arab conquests of northern Africa. Egyptian Copts have long complained of widespread discrimination, persecution and violence by both the Egyptian state and Islamist non-state actors.
Anti-Christian violence has seriously escalated in the aftermath of the removal of Islamist Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, whose supporters have been accused of scapegoating the Coptic community, after its leader, Pope Tawadros II, came out in support of the move by the army to oust Morsi.
A number of Christians have been murdered, and scores of churches and Christian-owned houses and businesses have been torched, ransacked and vandalized in the weeks since Morsi’s removal.
At least two more Christians have been murdered since Wednesday, when Egyptian security forces forcibly broke-up protest camps in the capital Cairo. Two Christian schools were also attacked, in addition to churches and other Christian establishment.
The Muslim Brotherhood, whose members have been accused of playing a major part in anti-Christian attacks, has denied that it has anything to do with them, and has issued a condemnation of such violence on its official website.
The post was taken from the Facebook page of Dr. Murad Ali, who was identified as “Media Spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party” (FJP). The FJP is the party which successfully fielded Morsi as a presidential candidate.
The statement addressed “false Twitter and Facebook accounts in the name of the Freedom and Justice Party publishing justifications for the burning of churches,” saying:
“These are attempts to ignite sectarian divisions to distract everyone from the real issue. Our stance is clear, we have announced it, and we reiterate:
“Based on the true nature of our religion, and pursuant to our party’s indivisible principles, we strongly condemn any attack, even verbal, against Copts, their churches or their property.”
The statement went on to condemn “violence and vandalism” as harmful to the Brotherhood’s reputation, insisting that the protest movement against Morsi’s removal was “peaceful.”
CuriousAmerican Said:
Have you ever stoped to ask Yamit 82 why he is so angry at Christians. It is said “THE ALMIGHTY knows all and therefore forgives all”.
http://www.voxpublica.org/2009/05/the_coptic_position_on_israel.html
Looks like the Copts are not anti-Semitic, but you are anti-Christian.
If things get worse, maybe we should.
The loss of Christian education and wealth would bankrupt Egypt.
Though 8 Million Copts could not be put in any one county. They outnumber the Palestinian Arabs 4 to 1.
CuriousAmerican Said:
A Jewish sage once said,”he is blind who will not see”.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Google Copts antisemitism. Tired of playing your game do your own homework.
CuriousAmerican Said:
First you must buy a ticket.
Eric R. Said:
Never happen, we got a fence now and we shoot arabs who try to break through it. A few might make it through but then we ship em to Gaza to be with their brothers who I’m sure will take good care of them.
I have an idea why don’t the christians in America and around the world pay them to leave for Chile.
Demonstrate that the Copts are exceptionally anti-Semitic.
I am furious what is happening to the Copts; I doubt you are.
But the Egyptian Army is taking take of the MB.
That being said: I have yet to see reliable evidence that the Copts are exceptionally anti-Semitic.
Maybe they are, but I have yet to see it.
CuriousAmerican Said:
Demonstrate what?
Can you demonstrate that?
yamit82 Said:
AAAHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh Gore”s lost was a miracle wort by the Amighty.
ArnoldHarris Said:
Any action based on policy is doomed to fail mostly due to the “BRADBURY BUTTERFLY EFFECT” of unintended consequences, or unforeseeable remote consequences!… also known as chaos theory!
The Butterfly Effect in Global Politics
Sometime back in 2000, Theresa LePore, had the idea to enlarge the typeface on the ballot paper she was designing for Palm Beach voters in the US Presidential election, thinking it would make it easier to read. Whether she had not had a good night’s sleep, or had had one too many cups of coffee that morning, we may never know, but for one reason or another she did not notice that the new design, which now became two pages instead of one (and as a result was most aptly named “the butterfly ballot”) could confuse voters about which button to press to register their vote.
As a result 19,120 voters punched holes for both Pat Buchanan and Al Gore, and their ballots had to be thrown out. Another 3,407 people appeared to vote for Pat Buchanan, which he himself found most surprising , expecting only a couple of hundred votes. The net result of Ms LePore’s oversight was that approximately 22,000 votes destined for Al Gore did not get counted. Had they been counted, Florida would have fallen to Gore, and he would have become the next US President.
Instead, the election for the whole US was now undecidable, and eventually the Supreme Court settled the matter by selecting George W Bush to be President. If Gore had been elected, would he have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on Global Warming? Would he have tacitly endorsed Israeli policies towards Palestine? Would he have declared Iraq part of an “axis of evil” and carried out a pre-emptive strike on the country, with unknown long-term consequences?
The world might be a very different place if the mental butterfly that flitted through Ms Lepore’s consciousness had not caused her to miss the problem with her new design.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Israel has tried rejecting the Palestinians’ demands, acceding to them, and every option in between. Nothing has worked, because policies never work. The Middle East’s ecosystem is a textbook example of a complex adaptive system. Any policy would be wrong here. Who could honestly have predicted that Arafat would refuse the statehood Barak gave him on silver plate? Who knew Nasser’s mind in 1967, when he wanted to attack Israel? We don’t know whether Iran develops nuclear weapons or merely defends its right to conduct nuclear enrichment. There are myriad inherently unknown variables in the peace process equation. If Israeli Arabs are loyal, that calls for one solution; if they are not, the solution must be entirely different. If Palestinian Arabs want to live in peace with Israel, that’s one situation; if Gaza’s refugees would never accept a Jewish state, that’s a totally different situation. Would Egypt pursue a hostile peace with Israel, or would its Muslim radicals come to power and opt for war?
Mid-term economic planning proved a communist failure, but democratic states plan something incredibly more complex than economy, human societies. The peace process will invariably fail. The only solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict is to stop seeking a solution. Jews settled in the Middle East’s equivalent of inner-city slums. Former residents can be sent to jails (or refugee camps) but they will keep coming back. If Jews lack the resolve for the biblically mandated solution, the only alternative is enduring a smoldering conflict for centuries. That’s completely acceptable.
Many more Israelis are killed in car accidents than in terrorist attacks.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend”, as I once heard someone describe a common culturally-based attitudinal trait of Arabs, should be the policy of the Jewish nation and the Jewish state. The Egyptian Copts probably hate Jews. The leaders of the Egyptian Army probably consider Israel a long-term enemy.
But meantime, the Ilkwan is the main threat to both of them. Which makes at least the Egyptian Army the same kind of ally to Israel that Stalin’s USSR was to Roosevelt’s USA and Churchill’s British Empire and United Kingdom in World War II.
Don’t ever get too passionate over war, and especially if the war is a protracted conflict such as Zionism has going with the Arab and Islamic worlds and who have the tacit assistance of the former world rulers of Europe. In such a conflict, one never knows who his friends or allies will be a few years hence.
Remember: The only thing that counts is continual increase of the power base of the Jewish nation and the Jewish state, irrespective of who may join with us for some temporary purpose of their own.
And yes, I am cold-blooded to think the way I do, and no, I have few and very carefully defined loyalties. And yes, to me, long range focus is everything and short-term vengeance is nothing.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
@ yamit82:
Yamit,
Unlike other persecuted Christians at the hands of Muslims who do not have a history of Jew-hatred (i.e. – the Igbos in Nigeria), when it comes to the Copts, while I do not celebrate their misfortune, my sympathy meter for them is kind of broken. I realize that Raymond Ibrahim does important work in exposing this persecution, but it is for me more for reasons of exposing the Islamists for the vile bigots that they are. (Admittedly, Mr. Ibrahim does it for the reason of saving his fellow Copts.)
I do not advocate “rushing to pick them (the Copts) up”, but how much do you want to bet that the MB will try to drive the Copts into Israel to turn it into an Arab country?
Eric R. Said:
“Rejoice not at thine enemy’s fall – but don’t rush to pick him up either.”
Jewish Proverb
“Referring to perceived sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood by western media outlets, the statement, translated by Al Arabiya, called on the West to “read objectively the facts of events, and not give international and political cover to these terrorists and bloody groups.”
How ironic that the Copts, who hate Jews as much as the Jihadists, are now treated in the international media just like we Jews are.
Welcome to our world. Not that it will stop you from being frothing Nazi Jew-haters, though….