The jihad against Egypt's Copts

Throughout the Third World, the jihad against Christians is gaining ground in its attempt to drive them out. Nearly two weeks ago a Coptic church in Cairo was firebombed, leaving some 21 people dead. Yesterday, an Egyptian police officer opened fire on a train heading towards Cairo, killing one Christian and injuring five others. True to form in sanitising jihadi violence, the New York Timesreported:

It remained unclear whether the man, who used a handgun, had singled out Christians...

while the BBC similarly reported

...it is unclear whether the attack was sectarian.

In fact, it was entirely clear. For the NYT and BBC left out one chilling detail reported here in the Egyptian paper Al Masry Alyoum:

Security sources said the assailant had checked passengers for the green cross traditionally tattooed on the wrists of Coptic Christians in Egypt. After identifying several Copts, the culprit killed one of them and injured five others.

The attacks on the Egyptian Copts have had a certain amount of coverage. But in general, jihadi pogroms against Christians in the Middle East – as elsewhere in the Third World – are systematically downplayed by the western media, for whom of course Israel – the one country in the Middle East where Christians are safe and thriving – is dwelt upon obsessively and demonised as a global pariah. CAMERA reports here, for example,  the plight of the First Baptist Church of Bethlehem and its pastor, Naim Khoury, which has been ignored by American media:

Pastor Khoury is a rarity among Palestinian Arabs as a churchman who not only voices no hostility toward Jews and Israel but also defends Zionism as based on the Bible.

In a 2010 interview from Bethlehem aired on Christian TV (Daystar Television Network) on December 31, 2010, Pastor Khoury described numerous bombing and gunshot attacks on his church. Five minutes into the video clip, Khoury explained that his church is strongly opposed by Palestinian Christian adherents to ‘Palestinian liberation theology’ — a religious-political ideology that supports and encourages violence against Israel and denies religious roots of Jewish nationalism.

Previously, in Jerusalem Post articles, Hamas and other jihadists were cited as responsible for the attacks on Pastor Khoury and his church:

After telling the conference how his church was firebombed repeatedly by jihadists, Khoury noted that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where Christians are not persecuted for their religious beliefs. Khoury demanded to know why the EU [European Union] has refused to defend Christians in the PA [Palestinian Authority], Lebanon and the Middle East. (Jerusalem Post, January 9, 2007, by Caroline B. Glick).

Born in Jerusalem’s Old City and still holding a Jordanian passport, Khoury is a bishop representing the Baptist church to Arab people in the Holy Land. He is also that rarest of figures here — a Palestinian Evangelical who believes in God’s land covenant with Israel through Abraham. For this, and his evangelising of traditional Christians and Muslims, the Baptist minister has been shot and left for dead, while his church has been fire-bombed and vandalized more than 16 times. (Jerusalem Post Website, February 19, 2009).

It’s not only the western media that displays such indifference towards the jihadi violence against Christians. What’s that deafening sound from the Church of England about this persecution of its flock?

Silence.