This video shows Dr. Mostafa Hegazy, the Presidential Advisor, defending the government's actions in an interview on CNN. He stresses that the roadmap is on track, with a constitution to be written within 60 days, followed by parliamentary elections (if the referendum is passed) and presidential elections.
Thursday 22 August 2013
Video Titled: CNN Interview with Mostafa Hegazy
This video shows Dr. Mostafa Hegazy, the Presidential Advisor, defending the government's actions in an interview on CNN. He stresses that the roadmap is on track, with a constitution to be written within 60 days, followed by parliamentary elections (if the referendum is passed) and presidential elections.
Article in Wall Street Journal: A Coptic Monument to Survival, Destroyed by Samuel Tadros
No one knows exactly when the Virgin Mary Church was built, but the fourth and fifth centuries are both possible options. In both cases, it was the time of the Byzantines. Egypt's Coptic Church—to which this church in modern-day Delga belonged—had refused to bow to imperial power and Rome's leadership over the nature of Christ. Constantinople was adamant it would force its will on the Copts. Two lines of popes claimed the Seat of Alexandria. One with imperial blessing sat in the open; the other, with his people's support, often hid, moving from one church to the other. Virgin Mary Church's altar outlasted the Byzantines. Arabs soon invaded in A.D. 641. Dynasties rose and fell, but the ancient building remained strong, a monument to its people's survival.
Virgin Mary Church was built underground, a shelter from the prying eye. At its entrance were two ancient Roman columns and an iron door. Inside were three sanctuaries with four altars. Roman columns were engraved in the walls. As in many Coptic churches, historical artifacts overlapped earlier ones. The most ancient drawing to survive into the 21st century: a depiction, on a stone near the entrance, of two deer and holy bread. Layers and layers of history, a testament not only to the place's ancient roots but also to its persistence. Like other Coptic churches, the ancient baptistery was on the western side, facing the altar in the east. Infants were symbolically transferred through baptism from the left to the right. The old icons were kept inside the church, the ancient manuscripts transferred to the Bishopric in modern times.
Once there were 23 other ancient churches next to it, all connected through secret passages. Only Virgin Mary Church remained. Decline and survival, loss and endurance, the twin faces of the story of the Copts who built it.
Why Virgin Mary Church endured until modern times is a mystery. Some churches in Cairo survived because Coptic popes made them their residence. Being built on a place Jesus and his mother had visited gave others in Egypt a claim to fame and a chance at survival, while in still others the miracles performed by the patron saint were a reason for pilgrims to visit and donate. Virgin Mary Church had none of these. For hundreds of years, its sole claim to miracles: a Roman column that, according to parishioners, produced oil once a year on Good Friday. The church was probably too small and too remote from the center of authority to merit notice. Its flock never abandoned it. Most of the Copts had converted to Islam over the centuries, but in Delga a critical mass remained that kept putting candles in front of the old icons.
Then, in 1829, a boy named Boulos Ghobrial was born in a village nearby. He was baptized in Virgin Mary Church's ancient baptistery and taught to read and write in its small school. He would become St. Abram, the Bishop of Fayoum, a man of deep spirituality, who performed thousands of miracles and resembled his master in his poverty. He died in 1914, and the Holy Synod would declare him a saint in 1963. Many churches would be built under his name, and his residence in Fayoum would become a huge attraction to pilgrims. His birthplace would reap some of the benefits.
Two newer churches were built next to Virgin Mary Church: St. George, about 100 years ago, and the modern St. Abram. Other buildings were soon added. A church that was a shelter from persecution under the Byzantines became a shelter from increasing discrimination and banishment from the public space in modern times. A large meeting room was built, as were a theater and retreat house. In the open space, a soccer field. Church permits became harder to get in Egypt and the small complex served 30,000 Copts.
Miracles are rare in modern times. More common is hardship, and plenty befell the churches of Delga. St. George was attacked a number of times and its domes destroyed. An enthusiastic bishop built two minarets only to have the Egyptian police destroy them. More threatening than a persecuting state was the mob. The ancient churches were attacked several times in the past. On July 28, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown. The churches survived that day.
But survival was not destined two weeks later. The army's violent crackdown on Mohamed Morsi's supporters in Cairo unleashed a wave of attacks on churches the like of which Copts had not seen in centuries, thus laying waste to examples of a unique byway in the history of architecture, religious structures that are a hybrid of Egyptian, Greco-Roman and Christian Byzantine styles. Dozens of churches were burned and destroyed in the largest attack on Coptic houses of worship since 1321. A complete tally is still to be written. But in its latest report, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Egypt's best human-rights organization, documents a total of 47 churches attacked, of which 25 were burned, seven looted and destroyed, five partly damaged, and 10 attacked without sustaining heavy damage.
In this maelstrom, the ancient Virgin Mary Church was not spared. In a day of brutality, the people of Delga distinguished themselves. All three of Delga's Coptic churches were destroyed. So were a Catholic and a Protestant church in the city. In place of Virgin Mary Church, the mob placed a sign: The Martyrs Mosque.
Other areas in the country attempted to compete. The school run by Franciscan nuns in Beni Suef was destroyed. It had been opened in 1889 and provided education to thousands of Egypt's girls. A symbol of a bygone time. Lost with the building were many artifacts, statues and paintings. A museum in Malawi was also destroyed. About 1,200 ancient artifacts have been looted.
A Coptic exodus has been under way for two years now in Egypt. The hopes unleashed by the 2011 revolution soon gave way to the realities of continued and intensified persecution. Decades earlier, a similar fate had befallen the country's once-thriving Jewish community. The departure of the people is echoed in the decay of the buildings. The landscape of the country is changing along with its demography. A few synagogues stand today as the only reminder of the country's Jews. Which churches will remain standing is an open question.
Mr. Tadros is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and the author of "Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity."
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324108204579022951847863272.html?ru=yahoo%3Fmod%3Dyahoo_itp
Wednesday 21 August 2013
Article on Financial Times: Egyptians Will No Longer Put Up With Authoritarians - August 20 2013
West’s bias towards the Brothers reflects a return of orientalism, says Ezzedine Choukri Fishere
or millions of us who live in Egypt, the western bias towards the Muslim Brotherhood is unmistakable. Yes, innocent Islamists have been shot in the streets and the number of casualties is staggering. No one who is here will ever want to relive the bloodshed of the past week. The west needs to be clear about what the Brotherhood is, however.
In the past week, the group and its allies have burnt down churches, killed police and military personnel, attacked police stations with heavy weapons and terrorised residential neighbourhoods – but this is not the impression one gets from the statements from outside the country.
One never hears about how, in 2011, the Brotherhood and its allies, Islamic Jihad and Gamaa Islamiya, used the electoral victory of their candidate, Mohamed Morsi, to hijack the democratic transition. This was achieved through legislating anti-democratic laws, restricting liberties, imposing an autocratic constitution, fostering sectarianism, intimidation, discriminating against women and minorities, and threatening their opponents.
Almost exactly like Hosni Mubarak, the Brotherhood tightened its grip on the political system, making change from within impossible. And, exactly like the former dictator, Mr Morsi was removed by a popular uprising – backed by the intervention of the military. They are, for an Egyptian liberal, two sides of the same coin.
This bias would not have been so upsetting if it were merely the result of the superior media campaigning on the part of the Brotherhood and its allies. But it seems to reflect a deeper and more sinister attitude; a return of orientalism in the name of universal democratic values.
Much western media and many experts fall victim to this vision. It suggests that the Arabs are a “special breed” of people, and an inferior one that cannot speak for itself but has to be spoken for by “those who know the Arabs best” – the good old orientalists populating thinktanks and framing media discourse. In the view of those “experts”, Islamism is the most important political force in the Arab world and will remain so for decades to come. This is because, they say, Islam plays a much greater role in the lives of Arabs. Consequently, the west should support Islamists even if their rule violates the basic values of a pluralistic democracy (such as equality and individual rights).
They recognise that Islamist rule would be an imperfect democracy, maybe even a majority tyranny, but they perceive this imperfection as inevitable, stemming from orientals’ “inherent” characteristics. The alternative to this “oriental democracy” would be an autocratic rule that is harder to support and can no longer work. So Islamists will provide the stability autocrats can no longer guarantee. They will rein in the more extreme Islamic Jihad and Gamaa Islamiya and they might evolve towards more respect of pluralistic values.
Where do I fit in to this analysis? I do not, and it does not matter to the neo-orientalists. They cast me aside as westernised, a minority, misplaced and incapable of rooting and connecting to the “majority” – almost an alien. But what about the 75 per cent of us who voted for Mr Morsi’s non-Islamist rivals in the first round of presidential elections? What about the millions who took to the streets to protest against his dictatorial “Constitutional Declaration” in November? What about the millions who demonstrated this summer? What about the tens of millions who today support the military – many of whom were its sworn enemies but converted out of fear of the Brotherhood? Are we all aliens and misfits? No. We are normal people who want a normal democracy; one that respects human rights, pluralism and the rule of law. We do not want fascistic majority rule delivered in ballot boxes.
However, we are made invisible, and our voice is silenced. Why? Because it is politically useful not to see or hear us. Ignoring us and our voices legitimates western governments’ support for Islamist authoritarian rulers who will give them the benefits of stability offered by dictators, while at the same time looking democratic because they are elected. For these governments, a Morsi is a new and a better Mubarak.
Neo-orientalism is as blind as the old one, however. The majority of Egyptians do want pluralism. Although we are disorganised and leaderless, we are not insignificant: nobody can govern this country without our support. We brought down Mr Mubarak and Mr Morsi – and we will not accept a return to authoritarianism, in the name of either religion or security. We know our struggle is far from over. The
Brotherhood and its allies will not disappear overnight, but they have lost popular support. The military will not give up power easily, but we know we can stop them becoming putschists. The entrenched orientalism will not go away either, but it will not convince us to accept anything less than a truly pluralistic democracy.
Ezzedine Choukri Fishere is an Egyptian novelist and professor of political science.
Link: www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/79bd3912-08e0-11e3-ad07-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2caWHNCMO
or millions of us who live in Egypt, the western bias towards the Muslim Brotherhood is unmistakable. Yes, innocent Islamists have been shot in the streets and the number of casualties is staggering. No one who is here will ever want to relive the bloodshed of the past week. The west needs to be clear about what the Brotherhood is, however.
In the past week, the group and its allies have burnt down churches, killed police and military personnel, attacked police stations with heavy weapons and terrorised residential neighbourhoods – but this is not the impression one gets from the statements from outside the country.
One never hears about how, in 2011, the Brotherhood and its allies, Islamic Jihad and Gamaa Islamiya, used the electoral victory of their candidate, Mohamed Morsi, to hijack the democratic transition. This was achieved through legislating anti-democratic laws, restricting liberties, imposing an autocratic constitution, fostering sectarianism, intimidation, discriminating against women and minorities, and threatening their opponents.
Almost exactly like Hosni Mubarak, the Brotherhood tightened its grip on the political system, making change from within impossible. And, exactly like the former dictator, Mr Morsi was removed by a popular uprising – backed by the intervention of the military. They are, for an Egyptian liberal, two sides of the same coin.
This bias would not have been so upsetting if it were merely the result of the superior media campaigning on the part of the Brotherhood and its allies. But it seems to reflect a deeper and more sinister attitude; a return of orientalism in the name of universal democratic values.
Much western media and many experts fall victim to this vision. It suggests that the Arabs are a “special breed” of people, and an inferior one that cannot speak for itself but has to be spoken for by “those who know the Arabs best” – the good old orientalists populating thinktanks and framing media discourse. In the view of those “experts”, Islamism is the most important political force in the Arab world and will remain so for decades to come. This is because, they say, Islam plays a much greater role in the lives of Arabs. Consequently, the west should support Islamists even if their rule violates the basic values of a pluralistic democracy (such as equality and individual rights).
They recognise that Islamist rule would be an imperfect democracy, maybe even a majority tyranny, but they perceive this imperfection as inevitable, stemming from orientals’ “inherent” characteristics. The alternative to this “oriental democracy” would be an autocratic rule that is harder to support and can no longer work. So Islamists will provide the stability autocrats can no longer guarantee. They will rein in the more extreme Islamic Jihad and Gamaa Islamiya and they might evolve towards more respect of pluralistic values.
Where do I fit in to this analysis? I do not, and it does not matter to the neo-orientalists. They cast me aside as westernised, a minority, misplaced and incapable of rooting and connecting to the “majority” – almost an alien. But what about the 75 per cent of us who voted for Mr Morsi’s non-Islamist rivals in the first round of presidential elections? What about the millions who took to the streets to protest against his dictatorial “Constitutional Declaration” in November? What about the millions who demonstrated this summer? What about the tens of millions who today support the military – many of whom were its sworn enemies but converted out of fear of the Brotherhood? Are we all aliens and misfits? No. We are normal people who want a normal democracy; one that respects human rights, pluralism and the rule of law. We do not want fascistic majority rule delivered in ballot boxes.
However, we are made invisible, and our voice is silenced. Why? Because it is politically useful not to see or hear us. Ignoring us and our voices legitimates western governments’ support for Islamist authoritarian rulers who will give them the benefits of stability offered by dictators, while at the same time looking democratic because they are elected. For these governments, a Morsi is a new and a better Mubarak.
Neo-orientalism is as blind as the old one, however. The majority of Egyptians do want pluralism. Although we are disorganised and leaderless, we are not insignificant: nobody can govern this country without our support. We brought down Mr Mubarak and Mr Morsi – and we will not accept a return to authoritarianism, in the name of either religion or security. We know our struggle is far from over. The
Brotherhood and its allies will not disappear overnight, but they have lost popular support. The military will not give up power easily, but we know we can stop them becoming putschists. The entrenched orientalism will not go away either, but it will not convince us to accept anything less than a truly pluralistic democracy.
Ezzedine Choukri Fishere is an Egyptian novelist and professor of political science.
Link: www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/79bd3912-08e0-11e3-ad07-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2caWHNCMO
Tuesday 20 August 2013
Video Titled: Brotherhood attack and burn the St. Teresa Church in Assiout
This clip shows the Brotherhood once again attacking and burning churches. This church is the St. Teresa Church in the Egyptian governorate of Assiout.
Video Titled: Brotherhood Assault a Police Officer, Beating and Torturing him to Death in Fayoum
This graphic video shows scores of the Brotherhood assaulting and beating an unarmed and defenceless police officer officer to death in Fayoum.
Video Titled: Some armed Brotherhood supporters kill police officers in Aswan
This video was only released today filmed by one of the residents in the area. The video is unedited and shows police officers in Aswan police station, stripped and savagely beaten by armed supporters of the Brotherhood who stormed the police station. Contrary to the title of the video, the commentator believes that no one died, just severe injuries suffered by the police officers. The video ends at 3.33.
Article on Al Arabiya: Mahmoud Ezzat named Muslim Brotherhood's New Leader, the 'Mr. X'
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood has named Mahmoud Ezzat as its temporary leader to replace Mohammad Badie who was detained on Tuesday and faces charges of complicity in deaths during a protest last year against deposed President Mohammad Mursi.
Prior to his appointment, Ezzat served as the secretary general of the Islamist movement and was a member of its guidance council.
He was the second deputy of the general guide.
The first deputy, Khairat el-Shater, was arrested shortly after Mursi was removed from power.
Israeli military intelligence website DEBKAfile described Ezzat last month as the Brotherhood’s “Mr. X.”
Debkafile reported that Badie was “no more than an obedient front for the Muslim Brotherhood’s real leader, who was until now Mr. X.”
Ezzat is “firmly at the helm and running the show both in Sinai and Cairo from the Gaza Beach Hotel, under the auspices of the Palestinian Hamas rulers,” the website added.
Ezzat is also referred to as the "blue deputy," "Fox Brotherhood" or "the real guide." Recently Egypt's Dostorasly website described him as the mastermind of alleged Brotherhood violence against security forces.
Monday 19 August 2013
Article on CBS News: Egypt bloodletting rages with Islamic militants killing 25 police in Sinai Peninsula
Islamic militants on Monday ambushed two mini-buses carrying off-duty policemen in the northern region of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing 25 of them execution-style in a brazen daylight attack that deepens the turmoil roiling the country and underscores the volatility of the strategic region. Elsewhere in Egypt, longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was acquitted Monday of corruption charges by a Cairo court, and his lawyer told CBS News he expected him to be freed "within 48 hours."
The killings, which took place near the border town of Rafah, came a day after 36 detainees were killed in clashes with security forces. In all, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi since last Wednesday.
Tensions between the sides have been high since the army ousted Morsi in a July 3 coup, following days of protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the Islamist president leave and accusing him of abusing his powers.
But Morsi's supporters have fought back, staging demonstrations demanding that he be reinstated and denouncing the military coup.
How events play out in Cairo could largely determine whether Egypt can step back from the brink of chaos.
Amid the security turmoil, the longtime ruler of Egypt who was ousted by 2011's Arab Spring-inspired uprising, Hosni Mubarak, was acquitted on corruption charges, although he is still facing charges of being complicit in the deaths of hundreds of protesters.
Mubarak lawyer Fareed El-Deeb confirmed to CBS News producer Alex Ortiz that Mubarak was acquitted on the charges which stemmed from allegations that he and his sons embezzled funds for work on presidential palaces.
In spite of El-Deeb's prediction that Mubarak would be free soon, it remained unclear whether Mubarak would actually be set free. He is still facing charges that he was complicit in the killing of hundreds of protesters by his security forces during the months of turmoil which led to his ouster.
He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison on those charges in June 2012, but the verdict was challenged on technicalities and the case has gone to retrial. Judicial officials told the Associated Press, however, that Mubarak cannot be held in custody anymore on those charges because of a two-year limit pending a final verdict.
The current security situation in Egypt, however, appears to have temporarily overshadowed most concerns about Mubarak's fate. It will have significant bearing not just on the country's long term prospects, but also on the debate playing out in Washington over whether the U.S. government should end the lifeline of financial aid to Egypt's military. Of the $1.5 billion in aid the U.S. sends Egypt every year, $1.3 billion is earmarked for the country's security forces.
As CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reported on the CBS Evening News, there is increasing pressure on the Obama administration from within the Beltway to cut off that aid.
Several GOP lawmakers have argued that the U.S. is without influence in Egypt, and therefore the only leverage Washington has left is to end its aid.
However, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Monday disagrees with that view of the situation, adding that the U.S. has important and complicated interests in Egypt.
"I don't think the U.S. is without influence, but that has to be a collaborative effort focused on what the Egyptian people want," Hagel said. "That should come as an inclusive, open democratic process."
In an attempt to counter the perception of undue force by state security personnel, Egypt's Foreign Ministry accused the foreign media on Sunday of telling only half of the story, and handed out photos showing what it purported to be armed men among the pro-Morsi protesters. It was a clear attempt, reported CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata, to label the Muslim Brotherhood and other Morsi backers as terrorists.
On Wednesday, the military raided two protest camps of Morsi's supporters in Cairo, killing hundreds of people and triggering the current wave of violence.
Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the country's military chief, said Sunday that the crackdown, followed by a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew imposed in Cairo and several other flashpoint provinces, is needed to protect the country from "civil war." El-Sissi has vowed the military would stand firm in the face of the rising violence but also called for the inclusion of Islamists in the post-Morsi political process.
Sinai, a strategic region bordering the Gaza Strip and Israel, has been witnessing almost daily attacks since Morsi's ouster — leading many to link the militants there to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails.
Egyptian military and security forces have been engaged in a long-running battle against militants in the northern half of the peninsula.
Al Qaeda-linked fighters, some of whom consider Morsi's Brotherhood to be too moderate, and tribesmen have used the area for smuggling and other criminal activity for years and have on occasion fired rockets into Israel and staged cross-border attacks. A year ago, 16 Egyptian border guards, a branch of the army, were slain in Sinai near the borders with Gaza and Israel in a yet unresolved attack that is widely blamed on militants.
In Monday's attack, the militants forced the two vehicles to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before shooting them, the officials said. The policemen were in civilian clothes, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which also left two policemen wounded.
The officials initially said the policemen were killed when the militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the two minibuses. Such confusion over details in the immediate aftermath of attacks is common. Egyptian state television also reported that the men were killed execution-style.
The killings, which took place near the border town of Rafah, compound Egypt's woes a day after police fired tear gas to free a prison guard from rioting detainees, killing at least 36.
The deaths of the 36 and the 25 policemen take to nearly 1,000 the number of people killed in Egypt since Wednesday's simultaneous assaults on two sit-in protest camps by supporters of Morsi.
In the deaths Sunday of the prisoners captured during clashes the past couple of days in Cairo, officials said detainees in one of the trucks transporting them had rioted and managed to capture a police officer inside. The detainees were in a prison truck convoy of some 600 prisoners heading to Abu Zaabal prison in northern Egypt.
Security forces fired tear gas into the truck in efforts to free the badly beaten officer, the officials said, adding that the people killed died from suffocation. Those officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
However, the officials' version of event contradicted reports about the incident carried by state media. The official website of state television reported that the deaths took place after security forces clashed with militants near the prison and detainees came under fire while trying to escape. The official MENA state news agency also said the trucks came under attack from gunmen.
State media also said the people killed and the gunmen belonged to the Brotherhood. The officials who spoke to AP said some of the detainees belonged to the Brotherhood, while others didn't. The differences in the accounts could not be immediately reconciled.
The Brotherhood said in a statement that it blamed the military chief, el-Sissi, and Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim who is in charge of the police, for the attack Sunday. The group also called for an international inquiry into the deaths.
Along with the state of emergency imposed after Wednesday's crackdown on the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and ensuing street clashes across the country, the military-backed interim government has also begun taking harsher measures to cripple the Brotherhood.
Security forces arrested hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members early Sunday in raids on their homes in different cities, aimed at disrupting planned rallies to support Morsi. The Cabinet also held an emergency meeting to consider banning the group.
A possible ban — which authorities say would be implemented over the group's use of violence — would be a repeat of the decades-long struggle between the state and the Brotherhood. It also would drain the group's financial resources and allow for mass arrests of its members. That likely would diminish the chances of a negotiated solution to the crisis and push the group again underground.
The Brotherhood has shown no signs of backing down though.
Under the banner of an anti-coup alliance, the group held protests Sunday, though many appeared smaller in scale than others held in recent days. In the coastal city of Alexandria, protesters clashed with residents. In the southern city of Assiut, security forces fired tear gas to disperse hundreds rallying in front of a mosque.
"They think they can end the movement," said Muslim Brotherhood senior member Saad Emara. "The more killings, the more people join us."
However, the government blames Islamists for series of attacks on churches and police stations, increasing public anger against the group.
In his first public appearance since last Wednesday, el-Sissi spoke at length in an hour-long speech Sunday about the motives behind ousting Morsi. The general said the Islamist president exploited democracy to monopolize power. He again said the military's action "protected Egyptians from civil war," despite the ongoing violence on the streets.
"We will not stand by silently watching the destruction of the country and the people or the torching the nation and terrorizing the citizens," el-Sissi said in a speech aired on state television. "I am not threatening anyone ... If the goal is to destroy the country and the people, no!"
The general said that the military didn't seek power but instead "have the honor to protect the people's will — which is much dearer (than) ruling Egypt."
Article on Al Masry Al Youm: Muslim Brotherhood Spiritual Leader Mohamed Badie has been arrested at a residential apartment in Rabaa Adaweya in Nasr City
25 Unarmed Soldiers Shot Dead in Sinai
Video Titled: The Brotherhood Raise The Al Qaeda Flag at their march in Roxy, Cairo
This footage was captured on the 18th August and shows supporters and members of the Muslim Brotherhood raising the flag of Al Qaeda during their protest in Roxy, in the district of Heliopolis.
Video Titled: A Church Set on Fire in Minya, Egypt
Translation of Video: Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters set fire to the Mar Mina Church in the Egyptian Governorate of Minya. The Church caught fire after the MB members and supporters threw a barrage of Molotov cocktail bottles into the building.
Article on Intercollegiate Review: Egypt’s Military: Doing What Germany’s Should Have Done in 1933 (August 16 2013)
Egypt’s Military: Doing What Germany’s Should Have Done in 1933 by Robert Reilly
Thirty million people in the streets of Egypt, with the help of the Egyptian military, have saved the United States from the consequences of its disastrous policy of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood since President Barack Obama came to office. Just months after his inauguration in 2009, Mr. Obama appeared in Cairo to address the Muslim world. He ensured that members of the Muslim Brotherhood were seated in the front row of the auditorium at Cairo University. Since the group was still officially banned in Egypt, no one from President Hosni Mubarak’s administration could attend. The message from the seating arrangement was unmistakable: even at the price of snubbing his official host, Mr. Obama recognized the Muslim Brotherhood as a legitimate player in Egyptian politics. Already, this was clearly interference in the internal affairs of the Egyptian state.
Former British ambassador Charles Crawford later characterized Obama’s quixotic address in the following way: “It boiled down to a well delivered speech full of clever emollient phrases that ultimately sent a message of appeasement to militant Islamist tendencies: Under my restrained leadership the United States will respect and accept conservative forms of Islam. Even if Islamism gets too aggressive we don’t plan to do much about it.”
Why would the United States want to give the green light to militant Islam? Wasn’t militant Islam, after all, the problem? Of course, President Obama has never publicly admitted that it is as a form of the “violent extremism” he opposes. But perhaps the Obama administration thought there was no alternative, or perhaps it was simply ignorant of the true nature of the Muslim Brotherhood. Most likely it thought that the Brotherhood could be tamed if it were given political responsibility. At any event, its representatives said some extraordinarily strange things. At a House Intelligence Committee hearing on February 10, 2011, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper described the Muslim Brotherhood as a “largely secular” organization with “no overarching agenda.” This was a rather unusual characterization of a group whose motto is: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” If that is secular, what might the religious be?
As for an overarching agenda, the de facto spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi proclaimed: “Islam is a comprehensive school of thought, a creed, an ideology, and cannot be completely satisfied but by [completely] controlling society and directing all aspects of life, from how to enter the toilet to the construction of the state.” That means the rule of sharia (Islamic jurisprudence), to which the Muslim Brotherhood has been dedicated since its inception in 1928. The other objective is the restoration of the universal caliphate. The vehicle for doing both is establishment of a one-party totalitarian state.
Totalitarians Don’t Share Power
The totalitarian parties on which the Muslim Brotherhood was modeled – Lenin’s Communists, Mussolini’s Fascists, and Hitler’s National Socialists – showed no inclination toward moderation once having obtained political power. All of them remained true to their principles. Once in power after Mubarak’s overthrow, President Mohammed Morsi gave a hint of what was to come by openly calling for Shaykh Omar Abdel-Rahman’s repatriation to Egypt from the U.S. federal prison in which he is incarcerated. The famous blind Shaykh was considered the spiritual inspiration behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and is serving a life sentence in connection with a subsequent plot to bomb New York landmarks and tunnels. Might this have been a sign of trouble to come?
In January, a congressional delegation, including Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, were in Cairo visiting President Morsi when an embarrassing pair of videos appeared on the site of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), documenting the virulent anti-Semitism Morsi had expressed in campaign appearances in 2010. In a September, 2010 interview, Morsi gave a preview of what Egypt’s approach to Israel might be:
In another 2010 appearance at a rally in his hometown in the Nile Delta, Morsi said:
Everyone in the U.S. delegation got terribly embarrassed over these indiscretions but cleared their throats and continued their trip after President Morsi assured them that the remarks were taken out of context. What might that context have been? Could it have been the context of the Qur’an with its proclamations of everlasting curses upon the Jews? Or perhaps the context of the Muslim Brotherhood program itself – or of its Hamas branch which promises in its charter to eliminate Israel? In either case, how anyone could have been surprised by what Morsi had said after more than eight decades of such rhetoric from the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches must have been in a state of either willful or blissful ignorance. Nonetheless, support from the United States continued. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Morsi in March when he released $250 million in American aid, with promises of more to come.
The only way the United States could have behaved in the way in which it has was by not taking the principles of the Muslim Brotherhood seriously. We still don’t, which explains the many lamentations over Morsi’s downfall (such protestations were notably absent when Mubarak fell in much the same way). Even intelligent commentators like Fouad Ajami can make statements that, “When the Obama administration could not call the coup d’état by its name, we put on display our unwillingness to honor our own democratic creed…” Come again? Since when does our democratic creed require support for the restoration of a party whose principles are inimical to that creed and to the underlying principle of democracy that all people are created equal?
Bernard Lewis predicted this mess when he said that the rush to early elections after the fall of Mubarak would lead, as did similar events in the Weimar Republic, to the ascension of the most dangerous elements society – meaning victory for the Muslim Brotherhood. In an interview with David Horowitz in the Jerusalem Post (February 25, 2011), Lewis cautioned that the discourse in Egypt is still “religiously defined” and that “the language of Western democracy is for the most part newly translated and not intelligible to the great masses.” How many Egyptians, for instance, actually believe that Copts and Muslims, men and women, believers and nonbelievers, are equal—to say nothing of Jews and Muslims? Pressing for elections now, he warned, could lead to catastrophe, as only religious parties are well enough organized to take advantage of them. (Lewis preferred first to see the development of local self-governing institutions.) Therefore, he said, “I don’t see elections, Western-style, as the answer to the problem. I see it rather as a dangerous aggravation of a problem. The Western-style election…has no relevance at all to the situation in most Middle Eastern countries. It can only lead to one direction, as it did in [Weimar] Germany, for example.” He was right. True to form, once in power, the Muslim brotherhood and Morsi went methodically about trying to monopolize power. Morsi assigned himself powers that a Pharaoh would have envied.
Sudanese writer Al-Hajj Warraq, got it exactly right in an Egyptian television interview last year. He said:
Apparently, the Egyptian people – at least the 30 million who were in the streets marching against Morsi – agreed with him. Unfortunately, the United States has not.
When Hosni Mubarak was arrested in 2011 after his overthrow, no United States senators visited him in prison or in his prison hospital. Why not? He had been an ally of the United States for almost three decades. The answer is that such a visit would have clearly telegraphed to the Egyptian people that the United States supported Mubarak’s restoration.
Why are Americans Backing the Muslim Brotherhood?
Likewise, what were the Egyptian people expected to make of the visits earlier this month by Senators McCain and Graham to Mohammed Morsi under house arrest and to, of all people, the Deputy Guide of the Brotherhood, Khairat al-Shater, also under arrest? No matter what intentions Senators McCain and Graham may have had, the choreography of the visits clearly indicated support by the United States for a Muslim Brotherhood restoration. On top of that, President Obama has now canceled the long-planned military exercises with the Egyptian military, further expressing his disapproval. These actions obviously encourage and incite the pro-Morsi opposition. The Brotherhood will be less likely to reach an accommodation with the new government because of them.
However, accommodation is not in the cards, anyway. The Muslim Brotherhood thought, no doubt, that with its accession to power in Egypt, arguably the most important Arab country, it was well on its way to realizing its millenarian dream of expansion and the reconstruction of the caliphate. Arab spring eruptions elsewhere in the Middle East were also going its way. Therefore, to lose the pinnacle of power in Egypt places its members in a life or death struggle. Since this struggle is at its heart every bit as ideological as were the struggles in the Weimar Republic in the 1930s or the struggles in Imperial Russia in the 1917, deploring violence and calling for reconciliation simply makes the United States appear naïve and totally disconnected from the ground truth of what is actually taking place. (Saudi Arabia and the UAE understand what is going on, which is why they are willing to pony up $12 billion in support of the new government. They are relieved that the Brotherhood’s imperial project, of which they were intended victims, has been thwarted for the time being.)
In this struggle for power, some people will win; others will lose, but it is important enough that both sides are willing both to take and to lose lives to reach their objectives. Tut-tutting on the sidelines makes the United States appear ridiculous. Instead of just deploring violence, we should be appraising the character of the moral principles animating the two sides in this conflict and supporting the side that more closely comports with our own. And yes, that may require the choice of a lesser evil.
Unfortunately, the German military did not move against Adolph Hitler when he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Had they done so, Europe and the United States would have been spared a world of woe. Had that happened, would the American government have tried to intervene at the time, insisting on a restoration of Hitler, who had been democratically elected by a plurality of the German people? Would we have insisted that our democratic creed required us to do so? These questions answer themselves. We would have been grateful to the German military for doing so. We should likewise have some appreciation for what the Egyptian military has done to save its country and, by the way, preserve U.S. strategic interests in that area of the Middle East.
But what about the transition to democracy? Maybe the new government will be able to make one, but most likely, at least for the foreseeable future, it may not be able to. That will depend on the underlying conditions of which Bernard Lewis and Al-Hajj Warraq spoke. In any case, as Jean Kirkpatrick taught us long ago, an authoritarian regime is always preferable to a totalitarian one.
Robert Reilly is a Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. He has taught at the National Defense University and has written for The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Claremont Review of Books, and The Washington Post. He has served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President (1983-85) and was Senior Advisor for Information Strategy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (2002-06). He is a former Director of the Voice of America and is a member of the board of the Middle East Media Research Institute. Mr. Reilly is the author of Surprised by Beauty: A Listener’s Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music (2002). His most recent book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis, was published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2010.
Link: http://www.intercollegiatereview.com/index.php/2013/08/16/egypts-military-doing-what-the-wehrmacht-should-have-done-in-1933/
Former British ambassador Charles Crawford later characterized Obama’s quixotic address in the following way: “It boiled down to a well delivered speech full of clever emollient phrases that ultimately sent a message of appeasement to militant Islamist tendencies: Under my restrained leadership the United States will respect and accept conservative forms of Islam. Even if Islamism gets too aggressive we don’t plan to do much about it.”
Why would the United States want to give the green light to militant Islam? Wasn’t militant Islam, after all, the problem? Of course, President Obama has never publicly admitted that it is as a form of the “violent extremism” he opposes. But perhaps the Obama administration thought there was no alternative, or perhaps it was simply ignorant of the true nature of the Muslim Brotherhood. Most likely it thought that the Brotherhood could be tamed if it were given political responsibility. At any event, its representatives said some extraordinarily strange things. At a House Intelligence Committee hearing on February 10, 2011, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper described the Muslim Brotherhood as a “largely secular” organization with “no overarching agenda.” This was a rather unusual characterization of a group whose motto is: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” If that is secular, what might the religious be?
As for an overarching agenda, the de facto spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi proclaimed: “Islam is a comprehensive school of thought, a creed, an ideology, and cannot be completely satisfied but by [completely] controlling society and directing all aspects of life, from how to enter the toilet to the construction of the state.” That means the rule of sharia (Islamic jurisprudence), to which the Muslim Brotherhood has been dedicated since its inception in 1928. The other objective is the restoration of the universal caliphate. The vehicle for doing both is establishment of a one-party totalitarian state.
Totalitarians Don’t Share Power
The totalitarian parties on which the Muslim Brotherhood was modeled – Lenin’s Communists, Mussolini’s Fascists, and Hitler’s National Socialists – showed no inclination toward moderation once having obtained political power. All of them remained true to their principles. Once in power after Mubarak’s overthrow, President Mohammed Morsi gave a hint of what was to come by openly calling for Shaykh Omar Abdel-Rahman’s repatriation to Egypt from the U.S. federal prison in which he is incarcerated. The famous blind Shaykh was considered the spiritual inspiration behind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and is serving a life sentence in connection with a subsequent plot to bomb New York landmarks and tunnels. Might this have been a sign of trouble to come?
In January, a congressional delegation, including Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, were in Cairo visiting President Morsi when an embarrassing pair of videos appeared on the site of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), documenting the virulent anti-Semitism Morsi had expressed in campaign appearances in 2010. In a September, 2010 interview, Morsi gave a preview of what Egypt’s approach to Israel might be:
Either [you accept] the Zionists and everything they want, or else it is war. This is what these occupiers of the land of Palestine know – these blood-suckers, who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs…We must confront this Zionist entity… We want a country for the Palestinians on the entire land of Palestine, on the basis of [Palestinian] citizenship. All the talk about a two-state solution and about peace is nothing but an illusion…
In another 2010 appearance at a rally in his hometown in the Nile Delta, Morsi said:
We must never forget, brothers, to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.” Morsi added that Egyptian children “must feed on hatred; hatred must continue… The hatred must go on for God and as a form of worshiping him.
Everyone in the U.S. delegation got terribly embarrassed over these indiscretions but cleared their throats and continued their trip after President Morsi assured them that the remarks were taken out of context. What might that context have been? Could it have been the context of the Qur’an with its proclamations of everlasting curses upon the Jews? Or perhaps the context of the Muslim Brotherhood program itself – or of its Hamas branch which promises in its charter to eliminate Israel? In either case, how anyone could have been surprised by what Morsi had said after more than eight decades of such rhetoric from the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches must have been in a state of either willful or blissful ignorance. Nonetheless, support from the United States continued. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Morsi in March when he released $250 million in American aid, with promises of more to come.
The only way the United States could have behaved in the way in which it has was by not taking the principles of the Muslim Brotherhood seriously. We still don’t, which explains the many lamentations over Morsi’s downfall (such protestations were notably absent when Mubarak fell in much the same way). Even intelligent commentators like Fouad Ajami can make statements that, “When the Obama administration could not call the coup d’état by its name, we put on display our unwillingness to honor our own democratic creed…” Come again? Since when does our democratic creed require support for the restoration of a party whose principles are inimical to that creed and to the underlying principle of democracy that all people are created equal?
Bernard Lewis predicted this mess when he said that the rush to early elections after the fall of Mubarak would lead, as did similar events in the Weimar Republic, to the ascension of the most dangerous elements society – meaning victory for the Muslim Brotherhood. In an interview with David Horowitz in the Jerusalem Post (February 25, 2011), Lewis cautioned that the discourse in Egypt is still “religiously defined” and that “the language of Western democracy is for the most part newly translated and not intelligible to the great masses.” How many Egyptians, for instance, actually believe that Copts and Muslims, men and women, believers and nonbelievers, are equal—to say nothing of Jews and Muslims? Pressing for elections now, he warned, could lead to catastrophe, as only religious parties are well enough organized to take advantage of them. (Lewis preferred first to see the development of local self-governing institutions.) Therefore, he said, “I don’t see elections, Western-style, as the answer to the problem. I see it rather as a dangerous aggravation of a problem. The Western-style election…has no relevance at all to the situation in most Middle Eastern countries. It can only lead to one direction, as it did in [Weimar] Germany, for example.” He was right. True to form, once in power, the Muslim brotherhood and Morsi went methodically about trying to monopolize power. Morsi assigned himself powers that a Pharaoh would have envied.
Sudanese writer Al-Hajj Warraq, got it exactly right in an Egyptian television interview last year. He said:
Democracy is about more than just the ballot box. Democracy is a culture engraved upon the cerebral box before it is the ballot box. One cannot talk about freedom in the absence of free minds. The tragedy of the Arab Spring is that when the tyrannical regimes fell, the fruits were reaped by movements that preach closed-mindedness, rather than free thinking. The outcome will be regimes that are worse than those that were toppled.
Apparently, the Egyptian people – at least the 30 million who were in the streets marching against Morsi – agreed with him. Unfortunately, the United States has not.
When Hosni Mubarak was arrested in 2011 after his overthrow, no United States senators visited him in prison or in his prison hospital. Why not? He had been an ally of the United States for almost three decades. The answer is that such a visit would have clearly telegraphed to the Egyptian people that the United States supported Mubarak’s restoration.
Why are Americans Backing the Muslim Brotherhood?
Likewise, what were the Egyptian people expected to make of the visits earlier this month by Senators McCain and Graham to Mohammed Morsi under house arrest and to, of all people, the Deputy Guide of the Brotherhood, Khairat al-Shater, also under arrest? No matter what intentions Senators McCain and Graham may have had, the choreography of the visits clearly indicated support by the United States for a Muslim Brotherhood restoration. On top of that, President Obama has now canceled the long-planned military exercises with the Egyptian military, further expressing his disapproval. These actions obviously encourage and incite the pro-Morsi opposition. The Brotherhood will be less likely to reach an accommodation with the new government because of them.
However, accommodation is not in the cards, anyway. The Muslim Brotherhood thought, no doubt, that with its accession to power in Egypt, arguably the most important Arab country, it was well on its way to realizing its millenarian dream of expansion and the reconstruction of the caliphate. Arab spring eruptions elsewhere in the Middle East were also going its way. Therefore, to lose the pinnacle of power in Egypt places its members in a life or death struggle. Since this struggle is at its heart every bit as ideological as were the struggles in the Weimar Republic in the 1930s or the struggles in Imperial Russia in the 1917, deploring violence and calling for reconciliation simply makes the United States appear naïve and totally disconnected from the ground truth of what is actually taking place. (Saudi Arabia and the UAE understand what is going on, which is why they are willing to pony up $12 billion in support of the new government. They are relieved that the Brotherhood’s imperial project, of which they were intended victims, has been thwarted for the time being.)
In this struggle for power, some people will win; others will lose, but it is important enough that both sides are willing both to take and to lose lives to reach their objectives. Tut-tutting on the sidelines makes the United States appear ridiculous. Instead of just deploring violence, we should be appraising the character of the moral principles animating the two sides in this conflict and supporting the side that more closely comports with our own. And yes, that may require the choice of a lesser evil.
Unfortunately, the German military did not move against Adolph Hitler when he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Had they done so, Europe and the United States would have been spared a world of woe. Had that happened, would the American government have tried to intervene at the time, insisting on a restoration of Hitler, who had been democratically elected by a plurality of the German people? Would we have insisted that our democratic creed required us to do so? These questions answer themselves. We would have been grateful to the German military for doing so. We should likewise have some appreciation for what the Egyptian military has done to save its country and, by the way, preserve U.S. strategic interests in that area of the Middle East.
But what about the transition to democracy? Maybe the new government will be able to make one, but most likely, at least for the foreseeable future, it may not be able to. That will depend on the underlying conditions of which Bernard Lewis and Al-Hajj Warraq spoke. In any case, as Jean Kirkpatrick taught us long ago, an authoritarian regime is always preferable to a totalitarian one.
Robert Reilly is a Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council. He has taught at the National Defense University and has written for The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Claremont Review of Books, and The Washington Post. He has served in the White House as Special Assistant to the President (1983-85) and was Senior Advisor for Information Strategy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (2002-06). He is a former Director of the Voice of America and is a member of the board of the Middle East Media Research Institute. Mr. Reilly is the author of Surprised by Beauty: A Listener’s Guide to the Recovery of Modern Music (2002). His most recent book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis, was published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2010.
Link: http://www.intercollegiatereview.com/index.php/2013/08/16/egypts-military-doing-what-the-wehrmacht-should-have-done-in-1933/
Sunday 18 August 2013
Video Titled: Moment Police Officers of Helwan Station Thwart Brotherhood and Thugs, Casualties Incurred
This video shows police officers who are attempting to overcome alleged Brotherhood thugs firing at them from an apartment block. The camera man informs the policemen that the shooters are firing from the balcony that has a lantern and air conditioning hanging from the ceiling. Casualties are incurred on the ground as the Brotherhood thugs shoot at them from the balcony. Soon the army arrive and attempt to aid the policemen and repel the shooters.
Video Titled: Michael Coren on the Horror in Egypt
Michael Coren, a British-Canadian host of 'The Arena with Michael Coren' on Sun News Network and journalist Alessandro Bruno discuss unfolding events in Egypt. Michael Coren tells viewers to be 'realistic here; there are armed, dedicated hysterical followers of the militant form of Islam led by the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more intolerant and violent partners in crime protesting.'
Video Titled: Cairo Protestors Branded Terrorists: Egyptian Officials Claim Country United Against 'Common Enemy'
The Egyptian Presidential Advisor Mostafa Hegazy told reporters on Saturday that Egypt was 'more united' than ever before and 'united against a common enemy'. Hegazy explained that the government would combat extremism and terrorism with both security measures and the rule of law, by 'making sure that we have the proper framework of human rights established, and by making sure that we are continuing our proper path to democracy'.
Video Titled: Watch Before it is Deleted; Those Involved at the Kerdassa Police Station Massacre Prior to it's Destruction with Heavy Weaponry
The scenes depicted in this video explicitly show members of the Brotherhood armed and equipped with heavy weaponry (1.50). The footage was captured right before the massacre at Kerdassa Police Station was carried out.
This Man Has Been Pictured 'Dead' At Least 5 Times
14 August 2013: At least 5 pictures have been obtained of this man feigning death in different locations and different positions. The Muslim Brotherhood have been allegedly paying people to fabricate their deaths in front of Western journalists and cameras in an attempt to generate sympathy worldwide in order to strengthen their position that they are victims of a military coup.
Saturday 17 August 2013
Video Titled: Biggest Fiasco of Al Jazeera Channel, You Have to Watch this Video and Share
The man in the video is making it seem like he is injured and unconscious, yet when the Dr lifts his shirt to examine the wound under the blood stained shirt, it turns out that there is no wound, and suddenly the 'injured' man wakes up and tries to block the cameras view with his leg. Amazing what great reporting Al Jazeera is carrying out.
Video Titled '30 June 2013, It is not a coup, It is the will of Egyptian people'
This video is translated to English and is made to express the strong national sentiment that Morsi's removal was not a coup by the military but rather, a necessary step taken to acknowledge the will of the Egyptian people.
Article on NewsMax: Egyptian Opposition Leader Ahmed Said: Obama Misleading American People
Please find article text below, and follow the link in the article to watch the video, very enlightening and informative.
Egyptian opposition leader Ahmed Said objected to President Obama's strong condemnation of the "steps that have been taken by Egypt's interim government and security forces."
The president made his remarks on Thursday while vacationing on the toney Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard.
Said, a former member of the Egyptian parliament, heads the Free Egyptians Party, a staunchly pro-Western, pro-democratic political party, issued the following letter in response to President Obama's remarks:
"Like most Egyptians we listened with attention to your statement on Egypt's latest development and as representatives of the non Islamic political forces in Egypt we believe in the same fundamental values on which the U.S. was founded, except that we have a 7,000 years of civilization and history which gave us a special identity which we are fighting to keep since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power.
Let me first inform you about who the Muslim brothers are. They’re an unlawful organization operating outside the realm of the Egyptian law, receiving foreign funding and laundering money in a flagrant breech of international law. Their aim is to rule the world through a so-called Islamic Caliphate as they believe in their absolute supremacy.
They pretend they are God’s emissaries and will not rest until they have forced the whole world into submission. For them Egypt is the launching pad to achieve their fascist dream. Their international reach spans the globe and they command the ears and minds of many unsuspecting politicians. They have used deceit, soft speeches, international funds and whenever required, violence to impose their will.
"The rule of Morsi showed how in less than a year they abused the people, reneged on their promises and overturned the rule of law by issuing constitutional diktats monopolizing the judiciary as well as the legislative arms of the state, enough to impeach any president in a democratic nation. Unfortunately, Egyptians couldn’t refer to their supreme court as it was besieged by their thugs for over 60 days back in November of 2012.
So finally, Egyptians took to the streets and this century’s second Egyptian “peaceful unarmed” revolution took place in June of 2013 to recall the president and reject the rule of the MB. Egyptians deposed their president not because he was not inclusive, as you so kindly represented, but because he broke his constitutional oath and became another dictator reminiscent of the previous dictator this same great people of Egypt removed in January 2011. This was the will of the people which the West is now trying to bend pretending they are doing so in the name of democracy with no intention of interfering in Egyptian affairs!
Now, I would like to address a few points in your address:
Despite the perception, well-intentioned or ill-intentioned, history will tell, of the western media consistently portraying one side — the islamist's — we have to let you know some facts and some truth.
Since July 3rd on the day deposed President Morsi was ousted by popular demand of millions of Egyptians, western media and prominent emissaries from the U.S.A. and Europe have consistently described the sit-ins that paralyzed a large part of Cairo as "peaceful demonstrators" to the extent that these same media and western governments chose to ignore what was happening across Egypt from torching churches and killing randomly and destroying private and public properties.
Mr. President, peaceful demonstrators do not have the capacity to kill more than 50 police personnel in just a few hours.
Peaceful demonstrators do not attack a police station with RPG and kill the police chief and his deputies, strip them of their clothes and drag their naked bodies down the street.
Peaceful demonstrators do not threaten Christians with genocide as many of the Muslim Brotherhood declared in hate speeches from the sit-in stage.
Peaceful demonstrators do not raise the black flags of al-Qaida while marching with pictures of bin Laden and Al Zawahri on their chests.
While the western media was focusing yesterday on the clearing of the sit-in, more than 45 attacks were made on Christian installations across Egypt resulting in torching 19 churches and cathedrals, some built in the 6th century.
The list goes on but your intelligence reports will enlighten you we are sure. The attached video will also give you an idea.
Mr. President, it is important that you see reality especially that the great American people have themselves suffered from the darkness of Islamists and unfortunately thousands of great Americans died from their terror.
The Muslim Brotherhood and their jihadist allies have never known and will never know peace. It might be useful to remind you that these same people had a three-weeks sit-in that started on the next dawn after election day and lasted almost two weeks to declare that they will burn Egypt if their candidate is not declared the winner.
Mr. President, we are on the side of freedom, we are on the side of human rights. We are on the side of justice for all. We also hurt to see mothers mourn their children and children mourn their parents. Have you seen Mr. President the video clip of the Muslim Brotherhood supporter throwing 14 years children off the roof of a six-floor building? One mother died of sorrow when she saw the video clip of her son thrown off the building, she did not have time to mourn.
Today Mr. president you chose to consider one side of the picture and to punish the Egyptians by cancelling operation Bright Star. Well Mr. President operation Bright Star means nothing to most Egyptians but it is the misunderstanding and misleading of the American people that we care most about. Egyptians have always stood by the American people when attacked by terrorists because we are freedom lovers and individual liberty champions like the American people. The only difference is that we have always been deprived to practice and taste these great principles and rights.
Is it too much for Egyptians today to have the support of the American people during our own war on terror? How can the same group be named terrorists in the U.S.A. and peaceful demonstrators in Egypt?
How can these be the ones the U.S.A. will never negotiate with while the U.S. government demands that Egyptians not only negotiate with them but also partner with them in the building of modern Egypt?
Mr. President, the interest of peace in the region is served best by truly peace-loving people and democratic values.
Finally, Mr. President, we hope that this letter will get your attention for after all, we are now representing the majority and our present government represents us, the secular, civil and liberal political forces. We hope that you will find of value to probe more and investigate more and ask more. When you do, we are ready to come to you in a small delegation and discuss and explain more and we are sure that you will realize that after all, Egyptians are indeed a great people deserving a great future."
Link: http://www.newsmax.com/US/Ahmed-Said-Obama-Egypt/2013/08/16/id/520880
Egyptian opposition leader Ahmed Said objected to President Obama's strong condemnation of the "steps that have been taken by Egypt's interim government and security forces."
The president made his remarks on Thursday while vacationing on the toney Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard.
Said, a former member of the Egyptian parliament, heads the Free Egyptians Party, a staunchly pro-Western, pro-democratic political party, issued the following letter in response to President Obama's remarks:
"Like most Egyptians we listened with attention to your statement on Egypt's latest development and as representatives of the non Islamic political forces in Egypt we believe in the same fundamental values on which the U.S. was founded, except that we have a 7,000 years of civilization and history which gave us a special identity which we are fighting to keep since the Muslim Brotherhood came to power.
Let me first inform you about who the Muslim brothers are. They’re an unlawful organization operating outside the realm of the Egyptian law, receiving foreign funding and laundering money in a flagrant breech of international law. Their aim is to rule the world through a so-called Islamic Caliphate as they believe in their absolute supremacy.
They pretend they are God’s emissaries and will not rest until they have forced the whole world into submission. For them Egypt is the launching pad to achieve their fascist dream. Their international reach spans the globe and they command the ears and minds of many unsuspecting politicians. They have used deceit, soft speeches, international funds and whenever required, violence to impose their will.
"The rule of Morsi showed how in less than a year they abused the people, reneged on their promises and overturned the rule of law by issuing constitutional diktats monopolizing the judiciary as well as the legislative arms of the state, enough to impeach any president in a democratic nation. Unfortunately, Egyptians couldn’t refer to their supreme court as it was besieged by their thugs for over 60 days back in November of 2012.
So finally, Egyptians took to the streets and this century’s second Egyptian “peaceful unarmed” revolution took place in June of 2013 to recall the president and reject the rule of the MB. Egyptians deposed their president not because he was not inclusive, as you so kindly represented, but because he broke his constitutional oath and became another dictator reminiscent of the previous dictator this same great people of Egypt removed in January 2011. This was the will of the people which the West is now trying to bend pretending they are doing so in the name of democracy with no intention of interfering in Egyptian affairs!
Now, I would like to address a few points in your address:
Despite the perception, well-intentioned or ill-intentioned, history will tell, of the western media consistently portraying one side — the islamist's — we have to let you know some facts and some truth.
Since July 3rd on the day deposed President Morsi was ousted by popular demand of millions of Egyptians, western media and prominent emissaries from the U.S.A. and Europe have consistently described the sit-ins that paralyzed a large part of Cairo as "peaceful demonstrators" to the extent that these same media and western governments chose to ignore what was happening across Egypt from torching churches and killing randomly and destroying private and public properties.
Mr. President, peaceful demonstrators do not have the capacity to kill more than 50 police personnel in just a few hours.
Peaceful demonstrators do not attack a police station with RPG and kill the police chief and his deputies, strip them of their clothes and drag their naked bodies down the street.
Peaceful demonstrators do not threaten Christians with genocide as many of the Muslim Brotherhood declared in hate speeches from the sit-in stage.
Peaceful demonstrators do not raise the black flags of al-Qaida while marching with pictures of bin Laden and Al Zawahri on their chests.
While the western media was focusing yesterday on the clearing of the sit-in, more than 45 attacks were made on Christian installations across Egypt resulting in torching 19 churches and cathedrals, some built in the 6th century.
The list goes on but your intelligence reports will enlighten you we are sure. The attached video will also give you an idea.
Mr. President, it is important that you see reality especially that the great American people have themselves suffered from the darkness of Islamists and unfortunately thousands of great Americans died from their terror.
The Muslim Brotherhood and their jihadist allies have never known and will never know peace. It might be useful to remind you that these same people had a three-weeks sit-in that started on the next dawn after election day and lasted almost two weeks to declare that they will burn Egypt if their candidate is not declared the winner.
Mr. President, we are on the side of freedom, we are on the side of human rights. We are on the side of justice for all. We also hurt to see mothers mourn their children and children mourn their parents. Have you seen Mr. President the video clip of the Muslim Brotherhood supporter throwing 14 years children off the roof of a six-floor building? One mother died of sorrow when she saw the video clip of her son thrown off the building, she did not have time to mourn.
Today Mr. president you chose to consider one side of the picture and to punish the Egyptians by cancelling operation Bright Star. Well Mr. President operation Bright Star means nothing to most Egyptians but it is the misunderstanding and misleading of the American people that we care most about. Egyptians have always stood by the American people when attacked by terrorists because we are freedom lovers and individual liberty champions like the American people. The only difference is that we have always been deprived to practice and taste these great principles and rights.
Is it too much for Egyptians today to have the support of the American people during our own war on terror? How can the same group be named terrorists in the U.S.A. and peaceful demonstrators in Egypt?
How can these be the ones the U.S.A. will never negotiate with while the U.S. government demands that Egyptians not only negotiate with them but also partner with them in the building of modern Egypt?
Mr. President, the interest of peace in the region is served best by truly peace-loving people and democratic values.
Finally, Mr. President, we hope that this letter will get your attention for after all, we are now representing the majority and our present government represents us, the secular, civil and liberal political forces. We hope that you will find of value to probe more and investigate more and ask more. When you do, we are ready to come to you in a small delegation and discuss and explain more and we are sure that you will realize that after all, Egyptians are indeed a great people deserving a great future."
Link: http://www.newsmax.com/US/Ahmed-Said-Obama-Egypt/2013/08/16/id/520880
Video Titled: A Video of the Slaughtering of a Taxi Driver by the Muslim Brotherhood in Alexandria
The video shows a mob of supporters, peaceful protesters, attacking a taxi driver, eye witnesses claimed its because he was a Christian and had a poster of Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in his car. The man you can hear on the video is screaming 'They're killing him, those sons of b****es, they're killing him' and eventually 'They've stripped him of his clothes'. Peaceful seems to have a different meaning in the minds of some people.
Article on VICE Titled: 'Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Are Burning Egypt's Churches' by Heba Habib
Please find the text of the article below:
Yesterday, while the world was focused on the grisly and violent dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo, which have so far resulted in at least 638 deaths, Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, which makes up less than 10 percent of the population, faced their own crisis as Islamists burned Coptic churches, businesses, and schools in predominately Christian towns across the country.
The Coptic rights group Maspero Youth Union estimates that as many as 36 churches were set on fire across the nine counties home to the largest Coptic communities. Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian NGO Initiative for Personal Rights, added that one monastery, two social-services offices, and three schools were attacked, and seven churches were burglarized. (The violence continues—Nile Revolt activists are keeping a tally on violence against Christians.) Ishak fears things will only get worse. "Most churches burned were in the main towns of each county," he said. "More [fires] are expected in distant villages in coming days amid the absence of police and army."
It’s not clear whether the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters deliberately chose to target Christians (some government buildings were also attacked) or if the attacks were premediated, but in any case the the Coptic community has been devastated. I talked to three eyewitnesses to the assaults from three different counties. All have different perspectives, but none of them expect the government to intervene. They said the police and military only arrived long after the attacks, or never came at all.
VICE: Can you tell us what you saw?
Marco Rasmy, an activist from Sohag, a city on the west bank of the Nile: At 8:30 AM, [members of the Muslim Brotherhood] were gathered at Al Thaqafa Square, which is the main square in Sohag, where they always gather for their protests and marches—this is also where Mar Guirguis church is located. By nine, I saw a church bus being attacked by the protesters and burned while they yelled, “Islameya! Islameya!” [Islamic state] and cursed about Copts. When they couldn’t break into the church because of the steel doors, they broke the advertising boards in front, and then they broke into the [church's annex]. Then they started attacking all the shops around the church including the pharmacy of Dr. Mounir, which was right beside the church. They set fires to cars, then stormed buildings, including an apartment right in front of the church—people were running and trying to escape. This lasted until 11:30, when Ministry of Interior armored cars stormed in and fired tear gas. They fought until 1 PM.
Later in the evening, I went back to see how things were. The three chapels were burned and looted, the administrative buildings were completely burned down. When the curfew started [at 7 PM], I went to the hospital to check on victims. I was told that people had gunshot and pellet wounds. Around the same time the Church of the Virgin was also attacked [on the other side of town]. I was told that it endured similar damages.
How are you sure the Muslim Brotherhood are the ones responsible?
I am certain because I’ve been going to protests since [November 2011], and I know very well how [the Muslim Brotherhood] are and how they act. A lot of them wore the green headbands and carried the green flags [of the Muslim Brotherhood]. Also the gathering point by the church is where the Muslim Brotherhood protesters usually meet.
What do you think is the reason for these attacks?
They’ve always hated the Copts. There were chanting on loudspeakers in Al Theqafa Square against us, inciting violence since June 30 [when protesters rose up against president Mohamed Morsi]. That’s more than a month of riling people up—and besides, they know it’s a lost battle if they attack the army. It’s easier to attack us. They believe that Christians are the ones responsible for what happened on June 30, even though there are others who took part in that protest—even Sheikh el Azhar [a prominent Muslim leader]. But there’s no way they will attack people like that.
How does the Christian community in your area feel about what happened?
I walked around the area after the attack—a lot of people are scared and want to leave and others are being more stoic. There’s a sense of repressed sadness. It’s the first time Sohag has ever looked like this. However, a lot of people are thanking God that no one died. At the end of the day buildings can be rebuilt, however you can’t bring back the dead.
What do you think of the army and government response to the attacks? Do you feel they are doing their best to protect churches and Christian homes?
I think the army took few precautions. They didn’t calculate the outcome of Rabaa, even their response was incredibly slow. From 9 to 11:30, the attacks were happening and there wasn’t a single policeman or army officer there. What are their reasons for not intervening sooner?
Are you afraid of this continuing?
Honestly, the Christian community can’t do anything. Attacks are happening today, and nothing is being done about it. Besides, what are we going to do? People are struggling just to eat so they aren’t going to take the money they use to buy food and to live, and use it to buy weapons. That just doesn’t make sense.
***
Why do you think Christians were targeted? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Muslim Brotherhood to attack army and government buildings?
Bishop Kirollos Gendi of Faiyum, a city south of Cairo: I don’t know. We’ve always been neighbors and friends. There’s never been any indicator that something like this would ever happen. I’m truly in shock; I don’t know what to say or even why they would target us in particular. It just doesn’t make sense.
How does the Christian community in the area feel about what happened?
Everyone is unhappy and terrified, especially moderate Muslims who feel that these incidents have defamed their religion.
If this continues, how will the Christian community react?
Right now we are just going to secure the church and people will try to salvage what they can. Other than that, I can’t tell you.
***
How does the Christian community in your area feel about what happened?
Bishop Weissa Sobhi, from the city of Deir Mawas: Everyone is terrified. The Muslim Brotherhood were walking around with machine guns in the street. No one is coming out of their houses now.
I know the Coptic Church has urged its followers not to retaliate but do you think there is any chance that some might take matters into their own hands?
It’s not in our religion to retaliate or to seek vengeance, and besides, that would only increase the violence so what would be the point?
How do you feel about the army response to what happened? Were they at all prepared for this?
They are concentrating on the major cities, and aren’t focused at all on the outer counties and villages.
How do you plan to rebuild your place of worship? Will the Church do it or will you depend on the state?
I’m waiting to meet with the heads of the Church to decide that matter.
If this continues how will the Christian community react?
We will endure it the best we can, but I’m very worried that many people will begin to leave Egypt because they fear for their lives.
Link: http://www.vice.com/read/unholy-hatred
The Coptic rights group Maspero Youth Union estimates that as many as 36 churches were set on fire across the nine counties home to the largest Coptic communities. Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian NGO Initiative for Personal Rights, added that one monastery, two social-services offices, and three schools were attacked, and seven churches were burglarized. (The violence continues—Nile Revolt activists are keeping a tally on violence against Christians.) Ishak fears things will only get worse. "Most churches burned were in the main towns of each county," he said. "More [fires] are expected in distant villages in coming days amid the absence of police and army."
It’s not clear whether the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters deliberately chose to target Christians (some government buildings were also attacked) or if the attacks were premediated, but in any case the the Coptic community has been devastated. I talked to three eyewitnesses to the assaults from three different counties. All have different perspectives, but none of them expect the government to intervene. They said the police and military only arrived long after the attacks, or never came at all.
VICE: Can you tell us what you saw?
Marco Rasmy, an activist from Sohag, a city on the west bank of the Nile: At 8:30 AM, [members of the Muslim Brotherhood] were gathered at Al Thaqafa Square, which is the main square in Sohag, where they always gather for their protests and marches—this is also where Mar Guirguis church is located. By nine, I saw a church bus being attacked by the protesters and burned while they yelled, “Islameya! Islameya!” [Islamic state] and cursed about Copts. When they couldn’t break into the church because of the steel doors, they broke the advertising boards in front, and then they broke into the [church's annex]. Then they started attacking all the shops around the church including the pharmacy of Dr. Mounir, which was right beside the church. They set fires to cars, then stormed buildings, including an apartment right in front of the church—people were running and trying to escape. This lasted until 11:30, when Ministry of Interior armored cars stormed in and fired tear gas. They fought until 1 PM.
Later in the evening, I went back to see how things were. The three chapels were burned and looted, the administrative buildings were completely burned down. When the curfew started [at 7 PM], I went to the hospital to check on victims. I was told that people had gunshot and pellet wounds. Around the same time the Church of the Virgin was also attacked [on the other side of town]. I was told that it endured similar damages.
How are you sure the Muslim Brotherhood are the ones responsible?
I am certain because I’ve been going to protests since [November 2011], and I know very well how [the Muslim Brotherhood] are and how they act. A lot of them wore the green headbands and carried the green flags [of the Muslim Brotherhood]. Also the gathering point by the church is where the Muslim Brotherhood protesters usually meet.
What do you think is the reason for these attacks?
They’ve always hated the Copts. There were chanting on loudspeakers in Al Theqafa Square against us, inciting violence since June 30 [when protesters rose up against president Mohamed Morsi]. That’s more than a month of riling people up—and besides, they know it’s a lost battle if they attack the army. It’s easier to attack us. They believe that Christians are the ones responsible for what happened on June 30, even though there are others who took part in that protest—even Sheikh el Azhar [a prominent Muslim leader]. But there’s no way they will attack people like that.
How does the Christian community in your area feel about what happened?
I walked around the area after the attack—a lot of people are scared and want to leave and others are being more stoic. There’s a sense of repressed sadness. It’s the first time Sohag has ever looked like this. However, a lot of people are thanking God that no one died. At the end of the day buildings can be rebuilt, however you can’t bring back the dead.
What do you think of the army and government response to the attacks? Do you feel they are doing their best to protect churches and Christian homes?
I think the army took few precautions. They didn’t calculate the outcome of Rabaa, even their response was incredibly slow. From 9 to 11:30, the attacks were happening and there wasn’t a single policeman or army officer there. What are their reasons for not intervening sooner?
Are you afraid of this continuing?
Honestly, the Christian community can’t do anything. Attacks are happening today, and nothing is being done about it. Besides, what are we going to do? People are struggling just to eat so they aren’t going to take the money they use to buy food and to live, and use it to buy weapons. That just doesn’t make sense.
***
Why do you think Christians were targeted? Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Muslim Brotherhood to attack army and government buildings?
Bishop Kirollos Gendi of Faiyum, a city south of Cairo: I don’t know. We’ve always been neighbors and friends. There’s never been any indicator that something like this would ever happen. I’m truly in shock; I don’t know what to say or even why they would target us in particular. It just doesn’t make sense.
How does the Christian community in the area feel about what happened?
Everyone is unhappy and terrified, especially moderate Muslims who feel that these incidents have defamed their religion.
If this continues, how will the Christian community react?
Right now we are just going to secure the church and people will try to salvage what they can. Other than that, I can’t tell you.
***
How does the Christian community in your area feel about what happened?
Bishop Weissa Sobhi, from the city of Deir Mawas: Everyone is terrified. The Muslim Brotherhood were walking around with machine guns in the street. No one is coming out of their houses now.
I know the Coptic Church has urged its followers not to retaliate but do you think there is any chance that some might take matters into their own hands?
It’s not in our religion to retaliate or to seek vengeance, and besides, that would only increase the violence so what would be the point?
How do you feel about the army response to what happened? Were they at all prepared for this?
They are concentrating on the major cities, and aren’t focused at all on the outer counties and villages.
How do you plan to rebuild your place of worship? Will the Church do it or will you depend on the state?
I’m waiting to meet with the heads of the Church to decide that matter.
If this continues how will the Christian community react?
We will endure it the best we can, but I’m very worried that many people will begin to leave Egypt because they fear for their lives.
Link: http://www.vice.com/read/unholy-hatred
A View at Some Muslim Brotherhood Propaganda
This is one of the posts on the Muslim Brotherhood Party in Helwan's (A city in Egypt) official Facebook page, legitimizing their attacks on the Coptic churches. Please find the translation below:
'The Pope of the Church is involved in the removal of the first elected Islamist president.
The Pope of the Church alleges Islamic Sharia is backwards, stubborn, and reactionary.
The Pope of the Church sponsors Black Bloc groups to create chaos, pursue banditry, and siege and storm mosques. (Black Bloc was a group of civilians that came together to instill some order and security in Egypt when it was lacking - and mosque's were never stormed)
The Church mobilizes the Copts in June 30 demonstrations to topple the Islamist president.
The Pope of the Church objects to the articles of Islamic identity and withdraws from the Constituent Assembly.
The Pope of the Church was the first to respond to Al-Sisi’s (The country's current Commander in Chief as of August 2012) call to authorize the killing of Muslims and the outcome of the authorization was more than 500 dead today (The authorization requested by Al-Sisi was to crackdown on terrorism in the country).
The Pope of the Church sends a memo to the current commission to cancel the articles of Sharia.
After all this people ask why they burn the churches.
Note:
Burning houses of worship is a crime.
And for the Church to declare war against Islam and Muslims is the worst offense.
For every action there is a reaction.'
It is sad to these the extent of manipulation organizations will go to to keep their followers on their planned out path, and it is even more sad to see that people actually fall for this.
Video Titled: Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Set Fire to the Giza Governate Building
This building is a government building, set on fire by rampant not so peaceful protesters, you can see efforts to put the fire out by the Police Firefighters, around minute 1.55 you can hear the people screaming 'there is someone inside...there is someone inside...' and towards the end you can see another government building damaged by fire and a firetruck set on fire, they seem to have a knack of disabling those trying to help the situation.
Friday 16 August 2013
Muslim Brotherhood Members Raising the Al Qaeda Flag and Allegedly Raise Flag on Egyptian Church
The picture above clearly shows the infamous Al Qaeda flag raised amongst the Muslim Brotherhood. According to a report, in the Egyptian public newspaper Shorouk, and translated by Coptic Solidarity, the Muslim Brotherhood stormed Mar Guirgis (St. George) Church in the Nile River city of Sohag last Saturday. As they raised the Al Qaeda flag they chanted 'Islamic (state) despite secularists (wishes).'
The report continues to state that the 'The Church immediately closed the doors and prevented the entry or exit of any one of its members.'
The photo below was taken by a Facebook user who claims that the black flag raised by the Brotherhood at the church, is the black flag of Al Qaeda. However, the grainy image makes it difficult to confirm.
Video Titled: The Brotherhood Portraying Scenes Feigning Death and Injury to Win the Sympathy of the International Community.
The Brotherhood acting as if they are in a protest and are being assaulted by the Egyptian armed forces and police. Their intention is to portray themselves as victims, promoting these images worldwide in an attempt to generate global sympathy.
Firetrucks prevented from doing their job
Director of the General Administration of Civil Protection in Cairo confirms that supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood have burned fire trucks on its way to extinguish a fire, which broke out in the Arab Contractors (One of the country's largest contracting firms) building at Ramses Square.
Article From EgyptianStreets.com 'Coptic Churches Burn Amid Violence in Egypt' by Mohamed Khairat
 |
| St. Mary Church in Fayoum attacked, looted |
The wave of attacks against Copts and their houses of worship, businesses, schools and homes came as Egypt’s security forces dispersed two large pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo.
In cities across Egypt, from Sohag and Minya to Cairo and Assiut, Islamists took to the streets attacking churches. In one case in Minya, a Coptic man and his wife were detained before being killed by armed individuals.
In one incident, Islamists torched parts of one of Egypt’s oldest churches that was reportedly built in the 4th Century.
In a frantic email to Egyptian Streets, a Coptic student in Minya said, “They are burning everything we own, and there is no security in sight. Is this Islam? Is this what the Muslim Brotherhood want? To burn Egypt to the grounds!”
 |
| Islamists torch one of Sohag’s largest Churches, the Mary Guirguis Church Muslim Brotherhood supports attacks on Copt |
In Alexandria, others expressed disbelief at the actions of these Islamists that have often been identified by reports as Morsi supporters.
“The tried burning our church here,” said 22-year-old Sarah in Alexandria, “My brother and neighbors have had to stop the attacks because there are no police protecting us.”
 |
Coptic Pope Tawadros II shared this chilling image of Coptic Christians praying in a burned church
|
The violence against Copts in Egypt comes as the official death toll from violence across the country has reached 525, with at least 3200 injured.
In a public message on Facebook, the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, said that its supporters had been behind the torching of Churches.
“The Pope participated in the toppling of the first elected Islamist President…and in sabotage, destruction, and violence…that led to the fall of the Islamist President,” said the Freedom and Justice’s official Facebook page of Helwan.
“The Pope is trying to remove the Islamic identity in Egypt…and after all this you ask why Churches are being torched…for every action there is a consequence,” added the Facebook page.
Government vows protection
In response to the destruction of churches, Egypt’s Minister of Defense and Military Chief, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, authorized the Armed Forces’ engineering unit and personnel to rebuild and restore all churches and Coptic institutions that were attacked by Islamists.
Egypt’s Cabinet and Prime Minister also declared that they condemn all acts of violence against Copts, and that all necessary action will be taken to ensure the security of Copts.
The statement by the cabinet came before the Ministry of Interior announced that police forces have been authorized to use live ammunition against any individuals that attack members of Egypt’s security forces, civilians, or any state institutions.
Solidarity with Copts
However, despite condemnations from the government, Copts in Egypt and abroad are reeling. In several countries, including Australia, USA, and the United Kingdom, Coptic communities will be holding prayers in solidarity with Copts in Egypt.
Leaders of these Coptic communities have also been contacting international governments to ensure that the violence against Christians in Egypt is condemned and that greater action is taken to pressure all sides to ensure the protection of Copts.
In solidarity with the Copts, many Muslims have expressed their concern and disgust at the actions by the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The Qur’an tells us to protect our Christian brothers and their churches,” said Ahmed Mohammed, 26, from Assiut. “These people [attacking churches and Copts] are not Muslim and they do not know what Islam is.
In a widely shared image on Twitter and Facebook, one unidentified schoolgirl drew an innocent drawing showing her support for Copts. The image shows a crying Mosque giving a hand to a sobbing Church.
As of today, security forces have not intensified their presence around Egypt’s churches. With at least 46 pro-Morsi and Islamist marches planned to Ramsees Square in Cairo, and countless others planned across Egypt, violence is likely to flare as anger rises in Egypt.
Link: http://egyptianstreets.com/2013/08/16/coptic-churches-burn-amid-violence-in-egypt/
Article from the NY Times 'Working-Class Neighborhood Tries to Make Sense of a Brutal Day' by Kareem Fahim
CAIRO — A man who sold eggs said the army had waited too long to attack the Islamists. An accountant said the police had stormed the protests with an efficiency he had not seen in years.
Multimedia
The events in Cairo set off a violent backlash across Egypt.
In the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba on Thursday, a teacher, Mohamed Abdul Hafez, said the hundreds of Islamists who died the day before mattered little to him. “It’s about the security of the country,” Mr. Hafez said.
Egypt seemed more divided than ever after a brutal day of violence here that left hundreds of people dead. Supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, mourned those killed, vowed revenge, planned their next moves. Many other Egyptians, though, directed their ire at the protesters who had camped out in the streets for weeks. For them, what occurred made sense.
“It was necessary,” Akmal William, standing in his auto-detailing shop on Talaat Harb Street, said of the raid by soldiers and police officers. “They had to be strict.”
Witnesses described a disproportionate, ruthless attack. Condemnations came from human rights advocates, a few Egyptian political figures, and from abroad. But many Egyptians viewed things differently, focusing on what they said were continuing threats from Mr. Morsi’s supporters, who were frequently referred to as terrorists. In their view, the army was the only force standing in the Islamists’ way.
Between the parallel realities, others were torn between the claims of the security forces of violent demonstrators who threatened the country — a view parroted by the state news media — and what they heard from Islamist friends about how the battle on the streets had unfolded on Wednesday morning.
In Imbaba, a neighborhood that seems to catch all the nation’s political currents in its congested alleyways, many people regretted the bloodshed. But they asserted that the alternative was worse. The Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Morsi’s political party, was holding back the country with endless sit-ins and protests, many said. And the longer the army waited to act, the weaker Egypt seemed to them.
That conviction only grew stronger amid reports about Islamist violence, including the storming of a government building in Giza early Thursday. Mr. William, a Coptic Christian, was preoccupied by a spate of attacks on churches and Christian homes across the country, a spasm of collective scapegoating by some of Mr. Morsi’s supporters.
“They won’t go easily,” he said, adding that churches “are still being burned.”
Some people seemed to buy the relentless propaganda of the state news media, saying they had come to realize that the Brotherhood was actually the mysterious “third party” blamed by successive Egyptian leaders for all manner of evil deeds. At least one man just seemed anxious to heap praise on the country’s leaders, irrespective of their actions, as if Egypt were still frozen in its authoritarian past.
Others had arrived at their own conclusions, and explained in detail why the government had been forced to act against Mr. Morsi and his supporters, regardless of the consequences.
“I don’t like conspiracy theories,” said Ahmed Mustafa, 37, an accountant who sat in a cafe. “I’m against violence. I gave my vote to Morsi, and he disappointed me. They did things their way, and it was a false way.”
The authorities acted responsibly on Wednesday, he said, moving during daylight, so that “everything was obvious,” rather than under the cover of darkness.
“We delegated them to fight terrorism,” he said of the military. “And the Brotherhood wanted to show themselves as victims.”
Openly, people praised the army, which deposed Mr. Morsi on July 3 and has remained Egypt’s leading power ever since. More quietly, some expressed doubts about the rush to support the military’s assertion of its authority after two and a half years of popular protests aimed at transforming Egypt from an authoritarian government to a democracy.
“I don’t know who is right and who is wrong,” said Hassan Mahmoud, who works in a bed store. “Some say the Brotherhood was shooting. Some say they were being shot.”
Reflecting the confusion of many Egyptians, he added: “We don’t know the truth. And we don’t know where we are heading.”
A woman named Israa, who asked that her last name not be published because of fears of retribution, said that Egyptians had become “brainwashed.”
“This is not us,” she said. “It’s not Egypt at all. We are not happy with death and blood.”
She was not a supporter of Mr. Morsi, who critics said had seemed to grow more feckless by the month. But there was no solution to be found in the violence, and Egypt’s growing comfort with nationalism, she said.
“We have this thing about us, that the Egyptian Army is untouchable,” Israa said.
“So many want Egypt ruled with an iron grip,” she said. “No one cares that leaders might be lying to the people. People are in a coma.”
In an alleyway nearby filled with children, Mohamed el-Mehdi, 30, took his infant son for a stroll before the curfew that Egypt’s leaders imposed after the fighting on Wednesday.
The breakup of the sit-ins had been a surprise, he said. Egyptians were expecting they would be dispersed more peacefully. “We were expecting skirmishes,” he said. “All of a sudden there was gunfire.”
Between the self-interested, unverified claims coming from all sides, “the facts are not clear,” Mr. Mehdi said.
“We want reconciliation, but we can’t reconcile with a group that we’re all calling to be banned,” he said, referring to the Brotherhood. “Most of Egypt is divided. And their differences are playing out in the streets.”
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/world/middleeast/working-class-cairo-neighborhood-tries-to-make-sense-of-a-brutal-day.html?_r=2&
Multimedia
The events in Cairo set off a violent backlash across Egypt.
In the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba on Thursday, a teacher, Mohamed Abdul Hafez, said the hundreds of Islamists who died the day before mattered little to him. “It’s about the security of the country,” Mr. Hafez said.
Egypt seemed more divided than ever after a brutal day of violence here that left hundreds of people dead. Supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, mourned those killed, vowed revenge, planned their next moves. Many other Egyptians, though, directed their ire at the protesters who had camped out in the streets for weeks. For them, what occurred made sense.
“It was necessary,” Akmal William, standing in his auto-detailing shop on Talaat Harb Street, said of the raid by soldiers and police officers. “They had to be strict.”
Witnesses described a disproportionate, ruthless attack. Condemnations came from human rights advocates, a few Egyptian political figures, and from abroad. But many Egyptians viewed things differently, focusing on what they said were continuing threats from Mr. Morsi’s supporters, who were frequently referred to as terrorists. In their view, the army was the only force standing in the Islamists’ way.
Between the parallel realities, others were torn between the claims of the security forces of violent demonstrators who threatened the country — a view parroted by the state news media — and what they heard from Islamist friends about how the battle on the streets had unfolded on Wednesday morning.
In Imbaba, a neighborhood that seems to catch all the nation’s political currents in its congested alleyways, many people regretted the bloodshed. But they asserted that the alternative was worse. The Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Morsi’s political party, was holding back the country with endless sit-ins and protests, many said. And the longer the army waited to act, the weaker Egypt seemed to them.
That conviction only grew stronger amid reports about Islamist violence, including the storming of a government building in Giza early Thursday. Mr. William, a Coptic Christian, was preoccupied by a spate of attacks on churches and Christian homes across the country, a spasm of collective scapegoating by some of Mr. Morsi’s supporters.
“They won’t go easily,” he said, adding that churches “are still being burned.”
Some people seemed to buy the relentless propaganda of the state news media, saying they had come to realize that the Brotherhood was actually the mysterious “third party” blamed by successive Egyptian leaders for all manner of evil deeds. At least one man just seemed anxious to heap praise on the country’s leaders, irrespective of their actions, as if Egypt were still frozen in its authoritarian past.
Others had arrived at their own conclusions, and explained in detail why the government had been forced to act against Mr. Morsi and his supporters, regardless of the consequences.
“I don’t like conspiracy theories,” said Ahmed Mustafa, 37, an accountant who sat in a cafe. “I’m against violence. I gave my vote to Morsi, and he disappointed me. They did things their way, and it was a false way.”
The authorities acted responsibly on Wednesday, he said, moving during daylight, so that “everything was obvious,” rather than under the cover of darkness.
“We delegated them to fight terrorism,” he said of the military. “And the Brotherhood wanted to show themselves as victims.”
Openly, people praised the army, which deposed Mr. Morsi on July 3 and has remained Egypt’s leading power ever since. More quietly, some expressed doubts about the rush to support the military’s assertion of its authority after two and a half years of popular protests aimed at transforming Egypt from an authoritarian government to a democracy.
“I don’t know who is right and who is wrong,” said Hassan Mahmoud, who works in a bed store. “Some say the Brotherhood was shooting. Some say they were being shot.”
Reflecting the confusion of many Egyptians, he added: “We don’t know the truth. And we don’t know where we are heading.”
A woman named Israa, who asked that her last name not be published because of fears of retribution, said that Egyptians had become “brainwashed.”
“This is not us,” she said. “It’s not Egypt at all. We are not happy with death and blood.”
She was not a supporter of Mr. Morsi, who critics said had seemed to grow more feckless by the month. But there was no solution to be found in the violence, and Egypt’s growing comfort with nationalism, she said.
“We have this thing about us, that the Egyptian Army is untouchable,” Israa said.
“So many want Egypt ruled with an iron grip,” she said. “No one cares that leaders might be lying to the people. People are in a coma.”
In an alleyway nearby filled with children, Mohamed el-Mehdi, 30, took his infant son for a stroll before the curfew that Egypt’s leaders imposed after the fighting on Wednesday.
The breakup of the sit-ins had been a surprise, he said. Egyptians were expecting they would be dispersed more peacefully. “We were expecting skirmishes,” he said. “All of a sudden there was gunfire.”
Between the self-interested, unverified claims coming from all sides, “the facts are not clear,” Mr. Mehdi said.
“We want reconciliation, but we can’t reconcile with a group that we’re all calling to be banned,” he said, referring to the Brotherhood. “Most of Egypt is divided. And their differences are playing out in the streets.”
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/world/middleeast/working-class-cairo-neighborhood-tries-to-make-sense-of-a-brutal-day.html?_r=2&
Article on The Blaze 'Putting Egypt In Context – What If President Obama Did What Morsi Did?' by Tarek Ragheb
Try to imagine if …
On June 30, 2012, democratically elected Barack Obama wins the election by a razor thin margin of 50.7% of the vote, takes the oath, and is sworn in as president of the United States.
The first five months of his term go relatively smoothly, where he makes almost no decisions (except for some dubious presidential pardons to a dozen convicted terrorists, including some convicted for their part in the assassination of a former president, and issues pardons to a number of convicted criminals and drug dealers ).
Suddenly, on Nov. 21, 2012, and despite his razor thin victory margin, President Obama issues a presidential decree giving himself sweeping powers, to the extent that his future decrees become un-contestable in any court, beyond all judicial review and in effect his decisions henceforth are akin to the word of God. His laws are a new Bible.
Nationwide protests erupt as a result of this decree and 1.5 million Americans organize a sit-in at the White House to peacefully request he rescind his presidential decrees.
Some of Obama’s hard line Democratic Party supporters attack the peaceful sit-in outside the White House with guns and shoot five peaceful protesters dead.
A few weeks later demonstrators of the hard core Democratic Party surround the U.S. Supreme Court, preventing the justices from convening so as to prevent any judicial review of the president’s decisions. Instead of protecting the judiciary, Obama dissolves the U.S. Supreme Court and labels its members all “traitors to America.”
One short week later, he fires the U.S. Attorney General and personally appoints a Democratic partisan to replace him without going through the Constitutional due process.
A month later, he annuls the U.S, Constitution and forms a “constitutional committee” to draft a new constitution in four days, (the committee includes no Republicans or Independents, no Muslims or Jews, and only a handful of women … and is composed primarily of Democrats & religious hardline preachers).
In a referendum not supervised by any judicial branch ( as judges all over the U.S. boycotted the process ), this constitution narrowly wins, and President Obama ratifies it the very next morning (despite it having only receiving the approval of 18% of all Americans).
Within a month, he invites top global terrorists, known jihadists and al-Qaeda members, from all over the world, to a rally in Yankee Stadium, where he cuts ties with and declares war on Canada.
Throughout this whole time, the U.S. economy is sinking, the stock market collapsing, foreign investment has all but stopped, tourism has died, and electricity, fuel, and water shortages are a daily occurrence.
Unemployment has almost doubled, and the U.S. dollar has lost 20 percent of its value globally.
Oh, and President Obama also outlines his new plans to lease the entire Silicon Valley area to China for 50 years (with full administrative control)…
With only .07% majority, democratically elected President Barack Obama has done all the above in his FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE!!!
Ultimately, on June 30, 2013, 110 million Americans take to the streets in 50 states to peacefully and politely demand — for four straight days — that democratically elected President Obama leave office immediately, and that he not serve his remaining three years.
Instead of listening to the people, President Obama goes on TV during prime time hours and threatens the nation with veiled and not-so-veiled threats.
To protect the 110 million Americans, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military ask Obama to step down, and because Congress was dissolved earlier this year due to the unconstitutionality of its election, the country is turned over to the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Who would you say had “legitimacy” in this case if it had been America?
“Democratically” elected President Barrack Obama, or the 110 million Americans who, in effect, fired him?
Link: http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/putting-egypt-in-context-what-if-president-obama-did-what-morsi-did/
On June 30, 2012, democratically elected Barack Obama wins the election by a razor thin margin of 50.7% of the vote, takes the oath, and is sworn in as president of the United States.
The first five months of his term go relatively smoothly, where he makes almost no decisions (except for some dubious presidential pardons to a dozen convicted terrorists, including some convicted for their part in the assassination of a former president, and issues pardons to a number of convicted criminals and drug dealers ).
Suddenly, on Nov. 21, 2012, and despite his razor thin victory margin, President Obama issues a presidential decree giving himself sweeping powers, to the extent that his future decrees become un-contestable in any court, beyond all judicial review and in effect his decisions henceforth are akin to the word of God. His laws are a new Bible.
Nationwide protests erupt as a result of this decree and 1.5 million Americans organize a sit-in at the White House to peacefully request he rescind his presidential decrees.
Some of Obama’s hard line Democratic Party supporters attack the peaceful sit-in outside the White House with guns and shoot five peaceful protesters dead.
A few weeks later demonstrators of the hard core Democratic Party surround the U.S. Supreme Court, preventing the justices from convening so as to prevent any judicial review of the president’s decisions. Instead of protecting the judiciary, Obama dissolves the U.S. Supreme Court and labels its members all “traitors to America.”
One short week later, he fires the U.S. Attorney General and personally appoints a Democratic partisan to replace him without going through the Constitutional due process.
A month later, he annuls the U.S, Constitution and forms a “constitutional committee” to draft a new constitution in four days, (the committee includes no Republicans or Independents, no Muslims or Jews, and only a handful of women … and is composed primarily of Democrats & religious hardline preachers).
In a referendum not supervised by any judicial branch ( as judges all over the U.S. boycotted the process ), this constitution narrowly wins, and President Obama ratifies it the very next morning (despite it having only receiving the approval of 18% of all Americans).
Within a month, he invites top global terrorists, known jihadists and al-Qaeda members, from all over the world, to a rally in Yankee Stadium, where he cuts ties with and declares war on Canada.
Throughout this whole time, the U.S. economy is sinking, the stock market collapsing, foreign investment has all but stopped, tourism has died, and electricity, fuel, and water shortages are a daily occurrence.
Unemployment has almost doubled, and the U.S. dollar has lost 20 percent of its value globally.
Oh, and President Obama also outlines his new plans to lease the entire Silicon Valley area to China for 50 years (with full administrative control)…
With only .07% majority, democratically elected President Barack Obama has done all the above in his FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE!!!
Ultimately, on June 30, 2013, 110 million Americans take to the streets in 50 states to peacefully and politely demand — for four straight days — that democratically elected President Obama leave office immediately, and that he not serve his remaining three years.
Instead of listening to the people, President Obama goes on TV during prime time hours and threatens the nation with veiled and not-so-veiled threats.
To protect the 110 million Americans, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military ask Obama to step down, and because Congress was dissolved earlier this year due to the unconstitutionality of its election, the country is turned over to the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Who would you say had “legitimacy” in this case if it had been America?
“Democratically” elected President Barrack Obama, or the 110 million Americans who, in effect, fired him?
Link: http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/putting-egypt-in-context-what-if-president-obama-did-what-morsi-did/
Video Titled: Shooting of Policeman in Kerdasa
This is the treatment the MB Members are giving the dead, after killing them. Celebrations and additional shooting, not the typical funeral procession.
Muslim Brotherhood Members Redefining Police Brutality
Each of these videos show the same attack from different angles, on a police officer in the street and trying to demolish his police truck.
People need to realise that these are the so-called peaceful protesters. Smacking a police officer in the head with a fire extinguisher (Video below 35 seconds in) sounds more like brutal than peaceful.
Article from Al Arabiya 'Saudi King Abdullah declares support for Egypt against terrorism'
The beginnings of international support;
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced on Friday that the kingdom supports Egypt in its fight “against terrorism.”
King Abdullah said Egypt’s stability is being targeted by “haters,” warning that anyone interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs is "igniting sedition." King Abdullah added that Egypt is able to cross to safety.
The Egyptian presidency hailed King Abdullah’s support, saying Egypt will “never” forget his “historic stance.”
Both Jordan and the UAE also praised King Abdullah’s support for the Egyptian government.
Saleh al-Qallab, a Jordanian political analyst, told Al Arabiya that Saudi Arabia will not leave the Egyptian military alone. “The situation in Egypt is very critical and Saudi Arabia has put itself on the right side of history,” he said.
Qallab added that King Abdullah had to “take a historical step and side with the correct form of Islam.”
Other analysts see that the King’s speech is ‘directed against the blatant Western support of the Muslim Brotherhood’, adding that the World’s powers should leave Egyptians to solve their own affairs.
Abdul Latif Minawi, an Egyptian columnist and former head of Egypt’s state TV, said the Saudi position comes in response to “Western positions, which are difficult to understand.”
“If Western leaders plan to repeat the Libyan scenario in Egypt, this will not be achieved in Egypt,” Minawi said.
He said “various Western interests come together in this situation to ensure the collapse of Egypt.”
“The Saudi position is another stance that understands where the regional interests lie,” Menawi said.
The statements of King Abdullah came after several Western countries and Turkey threatened to suspend ties with Egypt over a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
Turkey had summoned its ambassador to Egypt pushed for a U.N. Security Council meeting to be held yesterday over the situation in the Arab world’s biggest nation.
The United States cancelled a joint military drill with the Egyptian armed forces. It also warned that the traditional military ties with the Egypt are at risk if the violence continues there.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after speaking with French President Francois Hollande by phone on Friday that Germany would review its ties with Egypt, and both she and Hollande felt the European Union should do the same, Reuters reported.
“The chancellor explained that in view of the latest developments, the German government would review its relations with Egypt,” Merkel said, according to Reuters.
Violence between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Egypt’s security forces renewed on Friday with tens of people reported killed nationwide.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/08/16/Saudi-King-Abdullah-declares-support-of-Egypt-against-terrorism.html
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced on Friday that the kingdom supports Egypt in its fight “against terrorism.”
King Abdullah said Egypt’s stability is being targeted by “haters,” warning that anyone interfering in Egypt’s internal affairs is "igniting sedition." King Abdullah added that Egypt is able to cross to safety.
The Egyptian presidency hailed King Abdullah’s support, saying Egypt will “never” forget his “historic stance.”
Both Jordan and the UAE also praised King Abdullah’s support for the Egyptian government.
Saleh al-Qallab, a Jordanian political analyst, told Al Arabiya that Saudi Arabia will not leave the Egyptian military alone. “The situation in Egypt is very critical and Saudi Arabia has put itself on the right side of history,” he said.
Qallab added that King Abdullah had to “take a historical step and side with the correct form of Islam.”
Other analysts see that the King’s speech is ‘directed against the blatant Western support of the Muslim Brotherhood’, adding that the World’s powers should leave Egyptians to solve their own affairs.
Abdul Latif Minawi, an Egyptian columnist and former head of Egypt’s state TV, said the Saudi position comes in response to “Western positions, which are difficult to understand.”
“If Western leaders plan to repeat the Libyan scenario in Egypt, this will not be achieved in Egypt,” Minawi said.
He said “various Western interests come together in this situation to ensure the collapse of Egypt.”
“The Saudi position is another stance that understands where the regional interests lie,” Menawi said.
The statements of King Abdullah came after several Western countries and Turkey threatened to suspend ties with Egypt over a crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood supporters.
Turkey had summoned its ambassador to Egypt pushed for a U.N. Security Council meeting to be held yesterday over the situation in the Arab world’s biggest nation.
The United States cancelled a joint military drill with the Egyptian armed forces. It also warned that the traditional military ties with the Egypt are at risk if the violence continues there.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after speaking with French President Francois Hollande by phone on Friday that Germany would review its ties with Egypt, and both she and Hollande felt the European Union should do the same, Reuters reported.
“The chancellor explained that in view of the latest developments, the German government would review its relations with Egypt,” Merkel said, according to Reuters.
Violence between Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Egypt’s security forces renewed on Friday with tens of people reported killed nationwide.
Link: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/08/16/Saudi-King-Abdullah-declares-support-of-Egypt-against-terrorism.html
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