Posted on 01/08/2015 6:27:10 AM PST by marshmallow
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has attended the Coptic Christmas mass to mark the first attendance ever made by an Egyptian president to the religious occasion.
El-Sisi arrived at Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo's Abbasiya district during the mass and gave a brief speech before leaving instantly.
He said that both of Egypt's Muslims and Christians are celebrating this occasion, asserting that they are "one entity" in the world's eyes.
He added that he had to come to congratulate the Coptic community and then apologised for interrupting the mass.
Video footage broadcast by State TV – covering the full mass – showed crowds cheering as El-Sisi entered the Cathedral with churchmen and saluted Pope Tawadros II.
Former Egyptian heads of state have visited the Cathedral including Gamal Abd El-Nasser and interim President Adly Mansour, but this is the first time for a president to attend the mass.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.ahram.org.eg ...
Has the Israeli embassy in Cairo reopened yet?
The best information I have found is a Times of Israel article from Sept., new Ambassador Haim Koren is pictured, presenting his credentials to el Sissi.
The tone of the article seems to suggest positive relations:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-israeli-ambassador-in-cairo-meets-president-sissi/
This web page, copyrighted as recently as 2015, lists the Ambassador as Haim Koren, in the Embassy of Israel in Cairo, Egypt:
http://www.embassypages.com/missions/embassy17157/
I did not research the matter extensively, so will not go out on a limb, and answer “Yes” to the question, but if anyone has a good source of information, please update us.
Thanks to all !
This may become a saying in the ME:
“Al-Sisi is no sissy.”
Just the kind of man they respect, over there, too. Hope you are correct - thanks !
But take confort, the 21st century tech era is going to in the end force Islam to leave the dark ages behind, that it is in a losing fight.
God Bless El-Sisi.
That means he went to Church more often than our president as far as I know.
Video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18XwiyevZF8
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