Egypt championing Coptic Christians while Obama plays Nero

Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham should take lessons in courage from Egyptian defense minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who has vowed to rebuild Coptic Churches destroyed by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Not only is the courageous El-Sisi vowing to rebuild Muslim Brotherhood-destroyed Coptic Churches, but his order aims to have them rebuilt ASAP, according to the Mid-East Christian News. “The Egyptian defense minister ordered the engineering department of the armed forces to swiftly repair all the affected churches, in recognition of the historical and national role played by our Coptic brothers,” read a statement that aired on Egyptian television. “The Egyptian defense minister has ordered the repair and reconstruction of all churches that suffered damage in the country’s violent demonstrations since the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi from power last month. “Defense minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi intends to fix the damage to Coptic churches at Rabaa Adaweya and Nahda squares and says the Muslim Brotherhood should pay the cost to rebuild them.

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“Dozens of churches were attacked and burned in riots after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities to demand the end of what they call military rule, following the removal of Morsi on July 3. Many of Morsi's supporters have voiced criticism at Egypt's Christian minority for largely supporting the military's decision to oust him from office." (Fox News, August 16, 2013) Ordinary citizens in vigilante groups have managed to save some of the churches from destruction: “I watched the Brotherhood move on a church hours ago and saw them flee when citizens gathered quickly to defend it, and I will send you the video,” Canada Free Press (CFP) Cairo reporter Ali Sharnoby told CFP on Skype last night. Coptic Christian H. G. Bishop Moussa thanked Sisi for his efforts to repair the damaged churches. “We thank Col. Gen. Sisi for commissioning the brave Egyptian armed forces to rebuild the places of worship damaged during the recent events,” Bishop Moussa said on Twitter.... The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an Egyptian NGO, says at least 25 churches were torched this week, and attackers also targeted Christian schools, shops and homes across all 27 provinces. Yesterday top U.S. Senate Republicans McCain and Graham were siding against El Sisi and throwing in with the Muslim Brotherhood by issuing a joint statement “to suspend U.S. assistance to Egypt and make clear to the current leadership of the country what steps we believe are necessary to halt Egypt’s descent into civil conflict and ultimately to restore our assistance relationship, which has historically served U.S. national security interests.” “The interim civilian government and security forces--backed up, unfortunately by the military--are taking Egypt down a dark path, one that the United States cannot and should not travel with them,” the statement said.” (UPI, Aug. 16, 2013) One wonders what kind of path this duo thought the Muslim Brotherhood was taking Egypt down. Their joint statement made even less sense when it is considered that it was made while their president was dining on seafood and entertaining staff and friends in Martha’s Vineyard as Cairo streets ran red in the blood of civilians. Obama did take time out from partying to say that the United States has cancelled a joint U.S.-Egyptian military exercise because of the Egyptian crackdown on protests supporting Morsi--without, of course ever mentioning that he was quite willing to have military exercises when it was Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi in power. Meanwhile, just to keep the players straight for readers: It is Egypt where a Muslim leader is championing the rights of Christians by rebuilding their torched churches. And it is in the United States where mosques are being built and Christians are being marginalized.