It is important to know what is going on around the world, and, as my friend Erick Stakelbeck (author of the brand new bestseller The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy) said recently, to be like the sons of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12: 32) — to understand the times and to know what to do. IRD’s Religious Liberty Program strives to not only provide you with information, but, when possible, provide suggestions for some associated action.
- Northern Nigeria Task Force Appeals to Secretary of State John Kerry for Boko Haram Terrorist Designation
On Thursday, July 25, the Washington, DC-based Northern Nigeria Task Force, of which the IRD is a founding members, released a petition to Secretary of State John Kerry urging that he designate the Nigerian jihadists Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The release of the petition followed a Capitol Hill briefing and press conference with the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor.
The petition reminds Kerry that Boko Haram’s “200+ body count in the January 20, 2012 massacre topped the charts as the highest single death toll in any conflict worldwide exceeding Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan and was tied only with Syria.” And according to The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism’s (START) 2012 report, “Boko Haram was the second most deadly terrorist group for the year 2012 ranking only behind the Taliban – and ahead of Al Qaeda.” The task force also included for Secretary Kerry a helpful 44-page brief with facts regarding the history, origins of Boko Haram and detailing their attacks over the years.
Watch for a Front Page Magazine article concerning the Kerry appeal. If interested in a copy of the petition and Boko Haram report, please subscribe to the Religious Liberty Program E-Newsletter for info on how to obtain these.
- Muslim Brotherhood Attacks on Egyptian Christians Continue
The MidEast Christian News service (MCN) reports ongoing attacks on Copts and other Christians by Muslim Brotherhood members protesting the ousting of former President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi. On Sunday, July 28, dozens of Muslim Brotherhood members at a funeral for two of their number who were killed in the clashes between pro-Morsi and anti-Morsi demonstrators attacked several churches in Minya, Upper Egypt.
According to MCN, after receiving the bodies of the two dead Muslim Brotherhood members from their mosque on Sunday morning, Morsi supporters marched along the street where the headquarters of the Diocese of St. George is located. The ‘mourners’ decided to hold up the funeral procession long enough to throw stones and bricks at the headquarters, then moved on to the birthplace of the dead men in Kom Hamada village where they attacked St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church.
Other incidences included masked men attacking Virgin Mary and St. Abram Coptic Orthodox Church and St. George Catholic Church in Delga village, Deir Mawas, Minya (southern Egypt) and throwing Molotov cocktails on Saturday after evening prayers. They attempted to storm the building, but thankfully, reports MCN, “a number of moderate Muslims intervened and prevented them from going too far and the attack did not result in any losses or injuries.”
Another disturbing attack, also in Minya, was perpetrated by female supporters of Morsi marching in Minya. MCN reports that they attacked a Coptic woman who was pushing her baby in a stroller. The Morsi supporters snatched the stroller from her, beat and dragged her, and tore her clothes. They also destroyed the baby stroller so that the infant fell to the ground. MCN adds, “an eyewitness said the march was chanting slogans against Copts and describing them as infidels.” terrorist elements.
To keep well-informed on events in Egypt from the perspective of the Egyptian people and not the U.S. State Department, opt for information from such free sites as walidphares.com, voiceofthecopts.org, cynthiafarahat.com, and, of course, Juicy Ecumenism. Also, refer back to my article about U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert and his hour-long floor speech about the Egyptian People’s revolution.
- Diana West Demands “Why the Cover-Up?”
In a piece for Townhall on Friday, July 26, author Diana West declares that “the most recent manifestation of victory over the American character shows through the Anthony Weiner-Huma Abedin scandal.” She adds that this “scandal is a paradoxical double whammy of both exposure and cover-up.”
The Weiner exposure is well known. But what has been ignored, says West, is that Abedin is “a veritable Muslim Brotherhood princess” and that “her long and privileged access to US policy-making through Hillary Clinton — must be considered, particularly in the context of national security.” Neither the mainstream media, nor most of the conservative media have been willing to focus on this disturbing reality.
West quotes former federal prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy, who writes in National Review that Huma Abedin, “worked for many years at a journal that promotes Islamic supremacist ideology that was founded by a top al-Qaida financier, Abdullah Omar Naseef.” West adds that those years, 1996-2003, were years during which Abedin also worked for Hillary Clinton.
“It is hard to imagine how Huma Abedin ever received the security clearance necessary to work closely with the secretary of state,” West exclaims. “But she did, and from her powerful post, she undoubtedly exerted influence over U.S. policy-making,” says West, and adds that McCarthy lists many actions “that bespeak a shift in U.S. foreign policy to favor the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Please share this information with others who may be unaware of this disturbing circumstance. This is just one example of how the U.S. government has been infiltrated by those who do not value religious freedom for all and who seek to commit seditious actions against the United States. For more information, see Diana West’s website, and listen to the free 10-part series on The Muslim Brotherhood in America from The Center for Security Policy’s founder and director, Frank Gaffney, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy.
Comment by Greg Paley on July 31, 2013 at 5:52 pm
Thanks so much for this article, and its links. We get so caught up in matters of religious left v religious right, but obviously we need to back up and acknowledge the elephant in the room: we really do live under constant threat of jihad. And what a pity that ex-Congressman Lech is getting so much attention, when it’s his wife who is the bigger issue. Our political discourse has degenerated to the level of beauty-salon gossip.