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Christians denounce Cairo church bombing

Coptic Solidarity Strongly Condemns Brutal Bombing of St. Peter’s Church in Cairo

Coptic Solidarity condemns in the strongest terms the brutal attack of December 11 on St. Peter and St. Paul church – adjacent to the Coptic Papal Seat of St Mark Cathedral – which resulted in the deaths of at least 25 and the injury of 65 church-goers. The attack took place during the Sunday morning mass service, and the victims are mostly women and children.

Coptic Solidarity extends our deepest condolences to the victims’ loved ones and wishes a full and speedy recovery to those injured.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi condemned the “terrorist attack,” and vowed to hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice. He later claimed that it was a 22-year old male suicide bomber who managed to sneak into the church. Meanwhile, the government’s media are quick to air lunatic theories blaming ‘external powers’ – especially the ‘Zionist-American’ – of conspiring to destabilize and partition Egypt.

Angry crowds at the scene put the blame squarely on the government’s dysfunctional policies, and even shouted anti-Sisi slogans. Such reactions are far from being just spontaneous or emotionally driven.

The overwhelming majority of Copts strongly supported President Sisi and his efforts to stabilize Egypt through combatting terrorism. However, their support has worn out as they have come to realize that their dhimmi-like situation under Sisi’s rule is actually no better, if not worse, than under Mubarak. Regimes come and go but it seems that persecution of Copts is a quasi-permanent ideology of the Egyptian state.

Hanging Church inside Old Cairo, Cairo, Egypt. October 2004. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This latest attack targeting the Coptic Christian community, though particularly brutal, was neither unforeseen nor isolated. A culture of impunity of attacks on Copts stems from the complete failure of authorities to hold accountable those responsible for previous acts of violence. In many cases, authorities even deliberately obfuscated the course of justice.

President Sisi needs to break with past policies and make a decisive turn, in order to take Egypt in the right direction. The security-related aspects are certainly vital, but efforts are bound to fail unless other fundamental changes are made on three fronts:

A genuine ideological battle against Islamists must be waged. President Sisi has won praise for calling for ‘reforming Islamic religious discourse.’ However, apart from stubborn resistance by Al-Azhar, the call seems largely hypocritical as Mr. Sisi grants his Salafi allies open space to spread their hate speech in mosques and through the media.
The state-run public education is little more than a system to produce extremists. It needs an urgent and radical overhaul.
So far, little more than lip service is paid to Copts’ citizen rights. This has to change. Egypt needs to fully embrace the modern secular system of government and eradicate the institutionalized discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt.

Coptic Solidarity strongly believes that an Egypt that is free and just for all will overcome regressive forces, and urges Egyptian authorities and the global community to support the creation of a modern, equitable, just and prosperous Egypt.

Coptic Solidarity is an organization seeking to help minorities, particularly the Copts, of Egypt and we support those in Egypt working for upholding values of freedom, equality, and the protection of the fundamental rights of all Egyptian citizens. It advocates in cooperation with the affiliated organizations in Canada and in Europe(Solidarité Copte). For more information, contact Lindsay Vessey at 801-512-1713 or coptadvocacy@copticsolidarity.org

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rayhanania

Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News

RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

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