Egypt’s beleaguered Christian minority is once again under attack as Islamist mobs attack Christians and set fire to their homes in the southern province of Minya, the U.S.-based Catholic News Agency reported Wednesday.
The anti-Christian riots began earlier this week in response to rumors that Coptic Christians, one of the oldest Christian communities in the Muslim-majority Middle East, were planning to build a new church in the village of Al-Fawakher, media reports say.
Videos circulating on Twitter apparently show angry Egyptian rioters chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and burning homes with joyful Arabic music in the background.
“The attack occurred after word spread that residents of the village, which is home to 3,000 Christian families, had obtained a permit to construct a church building,” the watchdog International Christian Concern (ICC) reported. According to Islamic Sharia law, non-Muslims, or ‘dhimmis,’ living under the Muslim-rule are not allowed to repair their places of worship, let alone build new ones.
Muslim rioters reportedly had tacit backing from the Egyptian security services. “Despite promises of safety from security forces, the cries of help from the archbishop and the local Coptic community went unanswered as the attack unfolded. Security forces arrived only after the attack, leaving a yet unknown number of Christians to perish in their burning homes,” the ICC added.
The Copts, who constitute close to 10 percent of the Egypt’s 95 million population, face regular attacks from the country’s Muslim population and persecution from the state.
The Catholic News Agency reported the latest round of anti-Christian riots:
Muslim extremists set on fire several homes of Christians in Minya, a province in southern Egypt, in a continuation of anti-Christian violence less than two weeks before Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter.According to The New Arab, when anti-Christian fanatics failed to dispossess Christians of their homes in retribution for attempting to build a church in Al-Fawakher village, they proceeded to burn down the houses on the evening of April 23.On his official Twitter account, Coptic Orthodox Bishop Anba Macarius wrote on April 24 that Egyptian security forces “brought the situation under control, arresting the instigators and perpetrators,” and that the government “will compensate those affected and hold the perpetrators accountable.”After noting that calm now reigns in Al-Fawakher, Macarius added: “May God protect our dear country, Egypt, from all harm.”CNA reached out to authorities of the Coptic Orthodox Church but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Video of the burning homes was shared on social media that featured celebratory music and Arabic lyrics. (…)The Open Doors organization, which monitors persecution against followers of Christ, ranks Egypt as the 38th most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian. In 2018, seven Christians were killed by Muslim terrorists who attacked a bus carrying pilgrims. In 2017, Islamic State terrorists bombed two Coptic Orthodox churches, killing over 40 people. And in December 2016, a terrorist detonated a bomb killing himself and 189 worshippers at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, injuring more than 400 others.
Not just Egypt, Christian minorities share the same fate across the Muslim-majority Middle East and North Africa. The leftists in the U.S. and the West, busy attacking Israel over fake casualty figures and fabricated atrocities amid its ongoing war with the terror group Hamas, ignore the near-genocide of Christians in the Muslim world.
A 2019 study commissioned by the U.K. government found that the Christian population in the Middle East has dropped from 20 percent a century ago to merely 5 percent. The Guardian newspaper cited the report saying that “a century ago Christians comprised 20% of the population in the Middle East and north Africa, but since then the proportion has fallen to less than 4%, or roughly 15 million people.”
Since then, the Islamic State-led terror campaign and the rise of Iran-backed jihadists groups has only exacerbated the situation, with Christians fleeing the Middle East — home to some of the oldest Christian churches and denominations.
The only exception to this dismal trend is Israel, where the Christian population has been growing consistently in recent years. “The Christian population has been on the rise for at least the last two years. In 2021, the population grew by 1.4% to 182,000, and in 2022, there was about 2% growth to 185,000,” the Jerusalem Post reported December 2023, citing Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).
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