For Egypt's Coptic Christians, the new regime is much like the old one
Hosni Mubarak may be gone, but for Christian Copts, what follows him may be even worse.
On Monday, two of the three Muslims accused of perpetrating the New Year's Eve drive-by shooting in Alexandria were acquitted.
The three Muslims accused of the shootings were Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, more commonly known as Hamam el-Kamouny, Qurshi Abul Haggag and Hendawi Sayyed. Mohamed Ahmed Hussein, 39, was sentenced to death by the court on January 16 and the other two were acquitted today. The defendants were charged with using force to disrupt public order and intimidate citizens, with the premeditated murder of seven people, illegal possession of fire arms, the attempted murder of nine others, and voluntarily damaging fixed and liquid assets.
Bishop Cyril, the Coptic Orthodox bishop of Nag Hammadi, said "The court imposed one death sentence because one Muslim was killed, and the Egyptian judiciary wasted the blood of the six murdered Copts, who are of no value to the society. This verdict saddened all Christians worldwide because it means that the State is applying Islamic Sharia on all Christians in Egypt." He explained that according to Sharia the blood of one Muslim, victim Ayman Hisham, is paid for by the blood of one Muslim, Al-Kamouny; since one Muslim died, one Muslim got the death penalty.
Bishop Cyril said that according to the law an accomplice to a crime is on equal standing to the person who committed the crime. "So where is this law and why has it been by-passed in this case and why have the two accomplices been an acquitted?" He said that this verdict brought back sadness and pain to the families of the victims who expected the second suspect to have been sentenced to life imprisonment -- if not the death penalty -- and the third at least fifteen-year imprisonment, but not an acquittal. "This is why we know that in Egypt the blood of a Christian is worth nothing."
Bishop Cyril accused the judge of being unjust and said he is contacting the lawyers to discuss the possibility of presenting an appeal to the military governor. "Had I not reported seeing killer Al-Kamouny he would have been acquitted like the rest of the previous acquittal cases."
Meanwhile, Egypt's al-Masry al-Youm reported on a demonstration by Christian Copts near the State television building in Cairo on Sunday to demand a secular constitution for Egypt (Hat Tip: Jihad Watch).
Meanwhile, the committee appointed by the army to amend certain articles of the Constitution includes a Brotherhood-affiliated lawyer, and a Coptic rights group has argued that Christians are under-represented on it.
"Millions of Copts object to the committee formed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces," Nagib Gibrail, head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, said in a statement.
"I came here from Shubra to ask what's going on. The army is flirting with Islamists at our expense," said Mary Maqar, a demonstrator.
Along with around 2000 other protestors, Maqar chanted "Oh Belal, oh Buros, tell the people that the revolution is a cross and crescent!"
They carried pictures of Christians killed during the 18 days of the pro-democracy protests by the police or thugs allegedly affiliated with the then-ruling National Democratic Party.
"We sacrificed our souls for the sake of Egypt, and our aim was a civil state not a religious one. I came here to ask for equality, the Constitution has to be changed and article 2 removed," said another participant, Janeete Fawzy. Article 2 reads "Islam is the religion of the state. Arabic is its official language, and the principal source of legislation is Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia)."
"It is our absolute right to come and express our views against article 2. This provision is the source of discrimination in Egypt. You simply can't impose your religion on others," argued Loqqa Wagdy, a university student.
No, they can't force you to believe in their religion. But they can sure make your life miserable if you don't practice it.
Egypt says 'Palestinian' group behind Coptic Church bombing
Egypt is accusing the 'Palestinian' Army of Islam of being behind a massive car bomb at a Coptic Church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve.
Interior Minister Habib al-Adly said "conclusive evidence" showed that the shadowy, Gaza-based Army of Islam was behind the planning and execution of the attack, which sparked three days of Christian rioting in Cairo and several other cities. It was the deadliest attack against Christians in Egypt in more than a decade.
Shamei Asaad is neither a Coptic intellectual nor an activist. He is an engineer who took it upon himself to break the spiral of silence of his fellow Copts by detailing their concerns, from a layman's perspective, in a book entitled “The Christian Ghetto.” For a long time he was against the idea of migrating to the West to escape sectarian discrimination. But after the Alexandria church bombing, the 40-year-old man had to change his position.
The bombing of the Copts, as well as many attacks on Copts in Egypt by Muslims over the years, are a great example of how Muslims cannot live in peace with Christians. But they are also a great example of karma. It’s a bitch, and over the weekend, the bitch was Muslim. And what goes around definitely comes around in the case of the Copts. In the case of the Copts versus the Muslims, I view it as I did the Iran-Iraq war and the larger feud between Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims. I wish it could go on forever and that both sides would lose.
The Coptic Pope Shenouda III continues to regularly deliver anti-Semitic sermons and calls Jews “Christ-killers.” And, in July 2008, he told Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper:
Jews are a cursed people who have their hands indulged in the blood of Palestinians.
He also forbade all Copts from visiting Jerusalem as long as it “remains occupied,” meaning as long as there are Jews there.
But he is not the first to incite Coptic violence against Jews. In fact, the Copts were not only extremely anti-Semitic (as they continue to be), but they often led the Muslims in pogroms against the Jews of Egypt. There are almost no Jews left in Egypt, and the Copts joined the Muslims in calling for the Jews’ expulsion. Many Jewish homes and property were taken not by Muslims, but by Copts.
Pam Geller and Robert Spencer report on a Coptic Christian rally in Milan, Italy on Sunday, in which Copt supporters turned on Israel supporters who turned out at the rally. This is from Pam.
Atlas reader Paolo was at a Coptic Christian rally in Italy against Islamic genocide of Coptic Christians:
Today January 9th 2011 in the Duomo Square, Milano, Italy, a rally was held by the Copts of Milano along with some supporting Italian organizations; among them there were the Northen Ligue, the "Amo l'Italia - I love Italy", Magdi Allam's party, and ADI (Amici di Israele - Friends of Israel).
Near the end of the gathering, the people from ADI put on their shoulders the Israeli flag. The Copts reacted violently refusing the presence of the Israeli flags. The police had to intervene to separate them and oblige the ADI people to leave the gathering.
Robert still holds out hope that the Copts and the Jews might work together.
Historically, Islamic supremacist masters did their best to sow discord among different dhimmi communities, keeping them apart and at odds with one another, but those communities today only work against their own best interests by refusing to ally together. Bat Ye'or spoke the truth when she called upon the historical dhimmi groups -- primarily Jews and Christians -- to recognize that the jihad targets them for the same oppression and subjugation and to work together to resist that jihad.
In the same spirit, I have long called for an alliance of all those whose conversion, subjugation, or death is envisioned by the adherents of Sharia. We should stand together as Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, secularists, and resist those who would kill us or subject us to institutionalized discrimination. And while some Middle Eastern Christian leaders remain mired in antisemitism and dhimmi attitudes of intellectual and political subservience, others are breaking out of it.
Not all Copts are antisemitic: in mid-December several fiercely pro-Israel Zionists spoke at the Voice of the Copts' International Human Rights Day conference in Washington -- including Pamela Geller and me. Those who continue in antisemitic attitudes, like those at this rally in Milan, are not only working against the interests of their own community, but also against justice and truth.
Well, maybe. And maybe Debbie really only meant the Copts in Egypt. But I don't think so. Too many branches of Christianity have too strong a history of anti-Semitism, which existed long before Islam came along. While I'm happy for anyone who is willing to oppose radical Islam (and am skeptical that there is any other kind), as far as the other religions of the world, I can only go by what the rabbis tell me: Kabdeyhu v'Chashdeyhu (respect him and be wary of him). That seems to be the best advice in dealing with the Copts.
For any of you who don't get it yet, Italian parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein explains why Christians are being attacked in Muslim countries.
The heart of the problem is right here: the Islamist world is determined to build a world in which the other two main faiths are held in a state of cultural, religious and political subjection. And instead, in the last seven centuries the western world has been dominanting and, in the bigoted interpretation of vast organizations and even entire countries like Iran, this amounts to a declaration of war. This is the war that Islamism now wants to win. Not everyone in that world feels that way, but bombs make a lot of noise, while good will remains silent.
In 1919, the Egyptian revolution adopted a green flag with the crescent and the cross. Both Muslims and Christians participated in the nationalist revolution against British colonialism. But mostly since the assassination of Sadat, who had signed a peace agreement with Israel, the new élites left room to a process of gradual Islamization aimed at appeasing the most aggressive organizations, like the Muslim Brotherhood. The textbooks used in the schools today describe Egypt as an Islamic country only, and the children read also anti-Christian texts. As the Jerusalem Post writes, organ transplants between Muslims and Copts are prohibited by a decision of the physicians’ union. Labor unions indeed are often dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. The government recently halted construction of a stairway in a Coptic church and Copts are under constant attack (8 were killed also a year ago). Despite being no less than 10 percent of the population, they have no political representation.
Mubarak, by acting this way, keeps the Brotherhood at bay, and thus succeeded to marginalize it in the last elections. This is the way that Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and Pakistan behave: they think they have tamed the tamer, who actually becomes stronger and stronger, thereby threatening even his leadership.
The Iranian, Lebanese and Turkish television have accused “Zionists” of the New Year’s massacre in Alexandria. Oh sure, let’s try to put at least some of the blame on the Jews once again! That is their style: from the Farhud pogrom of Baghdad in 1941, in which 180 Jews were killed, and then in Libya (130 dead) and also in Turkey (three attacks on the Nevè Shalom synagogue from 1986 to the present, with 47 dead), to all the violence that has caused the flight of almost all the Jews, the Islamic world has kicked out of the Arab countries between 800,000 and a million Jews. These are refugees that the U.N. has always refused to recognize, like the Christians in flight from the same countries, where the Christian population, once the native one and the majority, is now reduced to 6 percent.
Bir Zeit on the Hudson and the Alexandria terror attack
A professor at Columbia UniversityBir Zeit on the Hudson has joined the chorus blaming the Mossad for last Friday night's car bomb targeting a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt (I could not access the original source).
Columbia's shame, Joseph Massad:
"One week before the terrorist attack in Alexandria, the Egyptian authorities uncovered a major Israeli spy ring... Given the history of Mossad bombings of Egyptian post offices, cinemas, cultural centers, and train stations in the 1950s... it would be important to investigate possible or even potential links between the Mossad operatives and the church bombers."
Obviously!
Remind me to send them that one the next time Columbia asks me for money.
Why accusations that the Mossad was behind the Alexandria church attack should be cause for worry
Although it should be clear to anyone with a brain in his head that the accusations are patently false, Khaled Abu Toameh warns that the accusations against the Mossad in the Alexandria Coptic church attack, particularly coming from media affiliated with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party, should be cause for worry.
By blaming the Mossad and the Jews for the church attack, the Egyptian leadership is trying to shift attention from the plight of the Coptic Christian minority, which has long been suffering from a systematic policy of discrimination.
Fortunately, most Christians in Egypt and the Arab world do not seem to buy the ridiculous conspiracy theories that their governments are trying to sell them regarding the involvement of Jews in terror attacks.
But the sad news is that many Muslims, especially those who are illiterate and live in poverty under their corrupt dictatorships, continue to believe the poisonous and hateful propaganda they are being fed -- which is why many of them will continue to join Al-Qaeda and other fundamentalist groups.
Friday night's car bombing at a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt was no coincidence.
In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaida-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target — including the one that was attacked.
They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.
...
Only two or three days before Saturday's bombing, police arrested several Salafis spreading fliers in Alexandria calling for violence against Christians, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
According to authorities, the strong belief among investigators is that local extremists who knew the area and the nature of their target were behind the blast. The Egyptian weekly Al-Youm Al-Saba said police were examining photos of the Salafis' weekly protests for suspects.
In the weeks before the attack, al-Qaida militants on the Web spewing calls for "jihad," or holy war, on Egypt's Christians laid out everything anyone would need to carry out a bombing.
One widely circulated posting includes a so-called "Jihadi Encyclopedia for the Destruction of the Cross," with a series of 10 videos describing how to build a bomb.
In the videos, an unidentified militant in a white lab coat and a black mask is shown listing the ingredients to make TNT and mixing up the chemicals in beakers.
The site lists Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, along with phone numbers and addresses — including Alexandria's Saints Church. "Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed," it says.
Read the whole thing. Anyone want to try to argue that words don't matter and that incitement doesn't lead to terror?
It probably bears mentioning that the Copts have a miserable history of anti-Semitism. I continue to discuss this incident despite that history, because it's rare that we get to see a terror attack from up close like the videos that are available from Friday night's attack, and because I am doing all I can to quash the scurrilous attempt to blame this attack on Israel and Jews.
Video of Coptic Church bombing and letter from a Copt
Here's another video of the aftermath of the car bombing outside a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt late Friday night. Note what they're clearly screaming in the background in the last 3-4 seconds.
Allahu Akhbar (God is great - the Muslim 'martyrdom' cry).
I was also asked to blog about this letter from a Coptic Christian. It was written to President Obama on Friday, December 24, and it was prophetic.
Coptic Christians have been the victims of systematic abuse and oppression in Egypt for a long time. On November 17, 2010, the U.S. Department of State recently issued a report on religious freedom in Egypt that details the abuses they suffer on a daily basis. January of this year, six Coptic Christians were murdered outside their church after celebrating Christmas.
Sadly, I fear another attack will happen again sometime in the near future.
The tendency of blaming the State of Israel for every problem in Egypt, and linking it to the Copts, is on the rise, especially in the past a few months. By associating the Copts with the Jewish state, extremists and government officials are inciting hostility toward a beleaguered, defenseless minority.
The anti-Israel polemic is fairly well known. One official accused recent shark and jellyfish for attacks on swimmers at Sharm el-Sheikh on the Mossad. The aalleged goal was to kill the tourism season.
What is less well known is that Muslim Imams throughout the Middle East are demonizing Coptic Christians in Egypt. One oft-repeated claim is that Israel is using Coptic churches to store all kinds of weapons to attack Muslims. Such accusations lead to threats of violence.
Bret Stephens delivers a stinging indictment of Arab backwardness in light of the 'blame the Jews' game being played in the aftermath of the Alexandria car bombing.
But the ultimate source of Arab backwardness, unmentioned by most of these studies, lies in the debasement of the Arab mind. When the only diagnosis Egyptians can offer for their various predicaments—ranging from sectarian terrorism to a recent spate of freak shark attacks at a Sinai beach resort—is that it's all a Zionist plot, you know that the country is in very deep trouble.
Is there a way out? George W. Bush thought he had an answer with the freedom agenda, and Barack Obama thinks he has one in what might be called the respect agenda. But freedom and respect for what? Egyptians will enjoy neither until they develop and adopt a set of political ideas that rests on something more than obscurantism, conspiracy and a zero-sum struggle for power.
In a word, Egyptians need liberalism (of the old-fashioned kind), which begins not with a vote but with an education. Distributing an Arabic translation of the complete works of John Locke, starting with his "Letter Concerning Toleration," would be a good place to begin undoing the damage so cruelly done in Alexandria.
The backwardness cannot be reversed overnight, but if it is to be reversed someone has to start somewhere. So far, there is no indication that anyone has started at all. Instead, the world pretends that the behavior of Egypt and other Arab countries is 'normal' to avoid being seen as 'racist' or offensive.
By the way, if you think I'm exaggerating the blame being placed at Israel's doorstep, please consider this sick, anti-Semitic video linked by Andrew Bolt (who also described it as sick).
Let's go to the videotape. Please watch until the end.
Open letter to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
I received this via email, as did the person who shared it with me, so there is no URL and all you can do is (hopefully) link to it. I'm not aware of its origins.
Open Letter to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
1/1/11
There was a short newscast on CBC 1 Radio news I heard today 1 January at 6 PM.
The lead item was about a Palestinian who died during a protest in the West Bank.
This same day 21 Christians were killed in a suicide bomb attack at a Church in Egypt.
Why was the non-deliberate death of the Palestinian more important than the 21 Christian Copts murdered in Egypt?
A. It can’t be the number of deaths, since many more died in Egypt.
B. It can’t be the religion of the victims, since Canada has many more Christians than Moslems.
C. It can’t be that it was accidental, since every day the world is perfused with accidental deaths during military and police actions.
D. It can’t be because it occurred in disputed territory, since we almost never hear about single deaths in Kashmir (Hindu Vs. Muslim), Cyprus (Turkish Muslim Vs. Greek Christian), Sudan (Arab Muslim Vs Black African), etc.
E. In fact, the only reason left for putting this item in the lead is because of the perpetrator of the death, Israel – even when it’s accidental.
Could it be possible that Israel is selected out for preferential negative news whenever possible?
Within this brief newscast, there was enough time to mention the unfounded accusation of media-savvy Palestinians that Israel had used a special new more toxic and evil form of tear gas. To be balanced, the CBC said Israel has denied this.
If I say that the CBC is secretly funded by the Muslim Brotherhood, will you also air this, and then deny it?
Why is the CBC so willing to broadcast all rumours that portray Israel in a bad light?
It’s a funny thing you know, the Palestinian issue has Muslims Vs Israelis, the Kashmir problem is Muslims Vs Hindus, Cyprus is Muslims Vs Greeks, Darfur is Muslims Vs. Black Africans, Egypt is Muslims Vs. Christian Copts. Muslims are killing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen and virtually every other trouble spot. Oh yes, let’s not forget the various Muslim terror plots in Europe, USA and Canada.
Is this escalating worldwide series of events not worth the attention of the CBC?
Of course not, let’s lead off the CBC news with one accidental death caused by Israel.
After all, you’re the CBC, and we know for sure the CBC couldn’t possibly be running a bigoted propaganda vendetta against one small country or one small religion.
Now, that wouldn’t be Canadian, would it?
Yours truly,
(I’m sorry I can’t sign it, because Al Qaeda has put out a hit list on Canadian Coptic Christians. I guess that news isn’t important enough for the CBC either.)
With all the attempts in the Arab world to blame 'Zionists' for the car bombing at a Christian Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt late Friday night, I'm sure you'll all be just shocked to hear that a fatwa has been posted on jihadist websites justifying the terror attack.
A religious edict signed by a Mauritanian cleric linked to Al-Qaeda' s late leader in Iraq and posted to jihadist websites appears to legitimise the deadly New Year's Eve attack on a church in northern Egypt. The edict, signed last month by Abu al-Mandhar al-Shanqiti, urges Muslims to avenge the alleged imprisonment in a convent of two Egyptian women after they converted to Islam.
Al-Shanqiti is close to the Jordanian sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, the mentor of Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a US raid there in 2006.
"How should Sharia (Islamic) law view Coptic priests and Christians who proselytise in our country and kidnap our women?" said al-Shanquiti's message, cited by jihadist website Al-Tawed.
"You should attack those who attack you, with a force that is equal to or greater than theirs."
"The Koran endorses the principle of 'an eye for an eye', a tooth for a tooth."
And as Zip points out, "every religion has its extremists," or so the dogma goes, but when did you ever hear of a Christian cleric justifying violence against innocent Muslims?
How about violence against innocent Jews? Unfortunately, I have heard too many Christian clerics justify that, although I doubt you'll find many examples of them justifying violence against innocent Muslims.
In any event, it's clear to anyone with eyes and a brain in their head that Jews had nothing to do with Friday night's car bombing terror attack.
Islamic Jihad (Hat Tip: Elder of Ziyon), Iran's Press TV and a top Lebanese Shiite Muslim leader (Hat Tip: Jihad Watch) have all blamed 'Zionists' for the car bombing at a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt late Friday night. This is from the second link.
Although, at first glance, the finger is pointed at extremist Wahabi or Salafi groups, it goes without saying that no Muslim, whatever their political leanings may be, will ever commit such an inhumane act.
Attacks on churches in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia can be analyzed in the context of a Zionist scenario aimed at driving a wedge between Muslims and Arab Christians.
Since the emergence of Islam, Muslims and Christians in the East have always coexisted peacefully as Islam pays due respect to the freedom of divine faiths -- especially Christianity.
In Egypt, too, Muslims and Christians are living in peace and harmony. Never, ever have the Christians in Egypt complained of any problems keeping them from carrying out their religious duties.
The fresh plot by terrorists to target churches is an organized Zionist scenario aimed at creating a rift between Muslims and Christians.
Following its intelligence and security failures in Egypt and the apprehension of a number of Mossad agents by Egyptian intelligence apparatus, the Zionist regime of Israel is set to exact vengeance on the Egyptian nation.
For years, Israel and the United States have resorted to radical groups with no affiliation to divine faiths to carry out acts of terror against Christians in Islamic countries.
It gets worse from there. Of course, that's complete nonsense. There have been many suicide bombings - inhumane acts - carried out by Muslims. And if Muslims and Christians get along so well, why are there constant complaints from the Copts in Egypt about discrimination and why is the only country in the Middle East where the Christian population is growing... you guessed it... Israel.
A top Shiite Muslim leader in Lebanon, Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan, denounced the attack as a "terrorist act aimed at sowing chaos and fear in Egypt".
"This terrorist act bears the fingerprints of Zionists who keep on targeting religious sights and are working to ... sow discord between Muslims and Christians," Kabalan said in a statement.
The question is whether anyone will condemn Kabalan's statement. Don't hold your breaths.
UPDATE 8:43 PM
Add a coalition of Egyptian lawyers to the list of people blaming Israel. Actually, make that Egypt's official governing body of the country's attorneys.
"The Mossad carried out the the operation in a natural reaction to the latest uncovering of an Israeli espionage network," the lawyers accused at a rally in memory of the victims, organized by the Egyptian Bar Association, according to the report.
At the gathering, aid to former Egyptian foreign minister Abdallah al-Ashal called for Cairo to reconsider its relations with Jerusalem, according to Army Radio.
By the way, I wonder if Coptic Christians are allowed to be lawyers in Egypt. I'd bet not, but if someone knows for sure (and can prove it), please pipe up.
Here's video of the immediate aftermath of the car bombing outside the Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt late on Friday night. This is very difficult to watch.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: Sandmonkey via Twitter).
Obama can't blame Muslims for Coptic attack in Egypt
A car bomb attack outside a Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt on Saturday killed 21 people. Muslim terrorists were responsible for the attack. Midwest Jim has lots more details here.
But I want to focus on President Obama's statement condemning the attack, which Jim has in full:
The President would not blame “Islamic” radicals in his statement and said Muslims were also victims.
I strongly condemn the separate and outrageous terrorist bombing attacks in Egypt and Nigeria. The attack on a church in Alexandria, Egypt caused 21 reported deaths and dozens of injured from both the Christian and Muslim communities. The perpetrators of this attack were clearly targeting Christian worshipers, and have no respect for human life and dignity. They must be brought to justice for this barbaric and heinous act. We are continuing to gather information regarding this terrible event, and are prepared to offer any necessary assistance to the Government of Egypt in responding to it.
The attack near an army barracks in Abuja also reportedly killed more than 20 people and wounded many more. Killing innocent civilians who were simply gathering – like so many people around the world – to celebrate the beginning of a New Year further demonstrates the bankrupt vision of those who carry out these attacks, and we are similarly prepared to offer assistance to the Government of Nigeria as it works to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The United States extends its deepest condolences to the families of those killed and to the wounded in both of these attacks, and we stand with the Nigerian and Egyptian people at this difficult time.
You can’t win a war when you don’t know who you’re fighting.
I think President Obama knows darned well whom we're fighting. But he refuses to acknowledge it because it doesn't fit his agenda.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
Hosni Mubarak may be gone, but for Christian Copts, what follows him may be even worse.
