Posted on 02/24/2017 5:21:14 PM PST by Petrosius
A priest says 1,000 Christians have fled, with some receiving threats on their mobile phones
Hundreds of Christians have fled the city of el-Arish in Egypt after a spate of attacks by suspected Islamic militants.
A priest told the Associated Press that he and some 1,000 other Christians had fled for fear of being targeted next. He blamed lax security, saying: “You feel like this is all meant to force us to leave our homes. We became like refugees.”
It was earlier reported that militants had shot dead a Coptic Christian man, Kamel Youssef, in front of his wife and daughter. The account had been given by two officials speaking on condition of anonymity.
A priest in the city said militants then kidnapped and stabbed his daughter before dumping her body near a police station. It wasn’t immediately possible to confirm his account.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack but earlier this week Egypt’s Islamic State group affiliate, which is based in the Sinai Peninsula, vowed in a video to step up attacks against the embattled Christian minority. A spate of killings by suspected militants have spread fears among the Coptic community in el-Arish as families left their homes after reportedly receiving threats on their mobile phones.
A day before Youssef’s killings, militants killed a Coptic Christian man and burned his son alive, then dumped their bodies on a roadside in el-Arish. Three others Christians in Sinai were killed earlier, either in drive-by shooting or with militants storming their homes and shops.
The Coptic Church has made no official comment on the spate of murders.
Coptic Christians, who make up 10 per cent of Egypt’s population, have increasingly come under attack since the military’s overthrow of elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013. A top target of Islamic extremists throughout the years, the Christians heavily supported the army-chief-turned-president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and his security crackdown on Islamists since Morsi’s removal.
The priest, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said a total of 30 Christians — including Coptic soldiers — have been killed since then, including two priests.
The northern region of Sinai, bordering Gaza Strip and Israel, has been a battleground between the military and Islamic militants since 2011 when the region sank into lawlessness during the 18-day uprising that led to the ouster of longtime autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.
Since then, there have been waves of Christian displacement. The first one was from the town of Rafah when the only church, the Holy Family, was looted, torched and destroyed in several militant attacks. The church is built on the site where Christians believe the Holy Family first stopped to rest after crossing into Egypt. Subsequent waves followed militants’ threats in past years. According to the priest, less than 1,000 remain.
El-Sissi declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in the volatile region in 2014 in the aftermath of deadly suicide bombings that killed over 30 soldiers. Blaming the stepped-up militancy on Gaza’s ruling Hamas group, which uses underground tunnels for smuggling contraband, the Egyptian military razed hundreds of houses in the border area to create a buffer zone and stop what it described as the infiltration of extremists from Gaza.
Since 2013, Islamic militants have carried out several suicide bombings across Egypt, mainly against the police and the army. However, in December, an IS-affiliated suicide bomber blew himself up inside a landmark Cairo church, killing around 30 worshippers, mostly women.
That attack marked a turning point in the Sunni militant group’s strategy as Christians became its top targets. The extremists have used Christians’ support for el-Sissi as a pretext to increase attacks against them.
The Islamic State group’s video, released on Monday, showed the bomber behind the December church attack and described the Christians as “infidels” who are empowering the West against Muslim nations.
Christians all around the world are under attack and even here in the US. It is time to protect ourselves at all cost. It appears our government will no do it because of the Democrats and foreigners.
the DNC and liberal’s definition of diversity
I hope the Trump administration is keeping tabs on this and will act to protect the Christian population of Egypt.
This is the Muslim Brotherhood on full display. They have infiltrated our highest levels of government through the Lefts (Dems) efforts to embrace those who Conservatives are in opposition to.
Hopefully Trump will label the Muslim Brotherhood and all its offshoots, Al Qaeda, Isis, Islamic Ummah, Hezbollah, CAIR, ISNA, Hamas, and the PLA as terrorist organizations.
Bring them here!!!! Christians are welcomed...Trump can easy appease the left pro immigration by importing those thousands of Christians....THIS WOULD BE A BRILLIANT MOVE!!!
Take them in and send back 100,000 Muslims.
There go the tourist dollars.
Oh Lord God, help your people.
Way overdue! Welcome any Christian that is undergoing persecution from Islam here! Those poor Copts are wonderful people.
http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/egypt
No way the left would put up with that. The majority of the Democrat Party appear to hate Christianity. Remember they booed adding the name of God to their platform in 2012.
Killing us peacefully, with their love...
Where is the outrage of the moderate Muslims who are enraged with these incidents. WHERE...is the response...
Perhaps this was the reason trump was hand picked by God to bring those Christians over who don’t have a chance in Muslim countries...and it’s all about the visuals...this would shut their mouths..pronto!!! ..powerful visuals!! Please Mr. President Bring those Christians Who are being tortured and burned alive and threatened because They love Jesus please bring them here to America please! I implore you!!!this is your mission!!!
Nation number 8!
Expecting guidance from Pope Fraud directing the Christians to return so they can be properly slaughtered.
We have now a President who has American Christians backs.
Israel is the only bright light in the whole of the Middle East. There isn't a single Muslim dominated country that provides any benefit to the rest of humanity. Not one.
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