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Egyptian Illiterate Children Detained for Insulting Koran

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Two Coptic Christian children, aged 10 and 9, have been arrested for insulting religion in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef, Ahram Online reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the two children were arrested on Tuesday after the imam of their local mosque filed a complaint against them.

By order of the prosecution the two boys, Nabil Nagy Rizk and Mina Nady Farag, are now being held in the Beni Suef juvenile detention pending further investigation on Sunday, said the report.

Ibrahim Mohamed Ali, the village imam, has accused the children of tearing up pages of the Koran. An Ahram Online reporter in the area said Ali initially took the children to the church and requested that the priest punish them.

Unsatisfied with the church’s decision not to castigate the two boys, Ali, together with three other villagers, turned to the courts.

Nabil’s father Nagy Rizk defended the action of the boys in a public statement, explaining that they are illiterate and therefore did not know the content of the papers which they found in a small white bag, as they were playing near a pile of rubbish in the street.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Embassy: Egyptian Terrorists “Targeting US Female Missionaries in Egypt”

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The US Embassy in Cairo issued a terrorist threat warning on Friday for American citizens living in Egypt.

The diplomatic mission stated on its website that it has “credible information suggesting terrorist interest in targeting US female missionaries in Egypt.”

The embassy urged US citizens to “exercise vigilance, taking necessary precautions to maintain their personal security.” Americans in Egypt were also advised to maintain valid travel documents and to regularly monitor the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs website, which lists updated travel warnings and alerts.

On August 4, the US issued a travel warning to Americans to “take precautions in travel to the Sinai.” It warned that “overland travel from Israel to the Sinai in particular is strongly discouraged.” That warning came soon after Israel urged its citizens to get out of the Sinai. The next day, Sinai terrorists killed 16 Egyptian border guards in an assault at the Egypt-Gaza-Israel border.

Also on Friday, the chairwoman of the House of Representatives committee that oversees foreign aid said she would block $450 million in US assistance to Egypt in light of tense relations between the two countries.

Read more from this story HERE.

Texas GOP Congresswoman Blocks Obama’s Effort to Slip Egypt $450 Million

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The Obama administration notified Congress on Friday that it would provide Egypt’s new government an emergency cash infusion of $450 million, but the aid immediately encountered resistance from a prominent lawmaker wary of foreign aid and Egypt’s new course under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The aid is part of the $1 billion in assistance that the Obama administration has pledged to Egypt to bolster its transition to democracy after the overthrow last year of the former president, Hosni Mubarak. Its fate, however, was clouded by concerns over the new government’s policies and, more recently, the protests that damaged the American Embassy in Cairo.

The United States Agency for International Development notified Congress of the cash infusion on Friday morning during the pre-election recess, promptly igniting a smoldering debate over foreign aid and the administration’s handling of crises in the Islamic world.

An influential Republican lawmaker, Representative Kay Granger of Texas, immediately announced that she would use her position as chairwoman of the House appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign aid to block the distribution of the money. She said the American relationship with Egypt “has never been under more scrutiny” than it is in the wake of the election of President Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“I am not convinced of the urgent need for this assistance and I cannot support it at this time,” Ms. Granger said in a statement that her office issued even before the administration announced the package.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Senate Votes 81 to 10 to Reject Limits on Aid to Pakistan, Libya, and Egypt (+video)

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This past weekend, the United States Senate voted 81 to 10 to reject Senator Rand Paul’s effort to limit financial aid to Pakistan, Libya, and Egypt until the countries surrender the individuals responsible for the recent attacks against US interests within their borders.

In urging passage of this foreign aid limitation, Senator Paul criticized Hillary Clinton’s efforts to award more aid to Egypt despite the nation’s vehemently anti-American actions over the last several months. He also slammed other anti-US actions taken by these supposed allies.

The following is a video of Senator Paul’s speech on the Senate floor. I recommend you skip the first 3:45 of the video:

And, in case you were wondering, Alaska’s Senators Murkowski and Begich voted against any limits on Pakistan’s, Libya’s, and Egypt’s foreign aid. All other Senators’ voting records appear HERE, too.

Muslim Leaders Demand that the United Nations Criminalize Criticism of Islam

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Egypt’s president and other Muslim leaders should demand the U.N. criminalize contempt of religion after the release of an anti-Islamic film and cartoons which demonstrate growing racism, said the leader of the biggest ultra-orthodox Islamist party.

Despite doctrinal and political differences with President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist Nour Party played a key role in supporting it during presidential elections in June.

Led by Emad Abdel Ghaffour, it now ranks as the second-largest party in parliament and plays a formidable force in Egypt’s new politics.

“We call for legislation or a resolution to criminalize contempt of Islam as a religion and its Prophet,” said Ghaffour, one of four permanent assistants to the president, on Saturday.

“The voice of reason in the West will prevail if there is mutual respect, dialogue and efficient lobbying for this critical resolution,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Read more from this story HERE.

Horror of Black Christian Crucifixion in Yemen & Egypt

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Shocking evidence has emerged from the Mideast about an escalation in the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries. According to a report in Lebanon Today, at least one man was crucified and two others were otherwise executed by the jihadist group Ansar al-Shariah that had taken control of a region in Yemen and imposed Islamic religious law, known as shariah. The jihadists accused the trio of being agents or spies for the United States and killed them several months ago during a period when the Yemeni government was challenged by riots and rebellion. The MEMRI website has photographs of the jihadists’ victims.

A caption to a video of a victim of crucifixion explained that he was an accused “spy who was executed by extremists for placing sensors in militant’s cars to direct U.S. attacks on them.”

A report issued to subscribers only by the MEMRI website showed a photograph of the victim crucified on an electric pylon in south Yemen’s Abyan province. Translated, a sign affixed above the victim’s head displayed the flag of the Al-Qaeda-linked group and a text from verse 5:33 of the Koran: “The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off from opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter.”

Walid Shoebat, a former PLO operative who is now a terrorism analyst, said that the inscription in one of the photos reads, “He was crucified for three days in accordance with shariah.” According to Shoebat, the group carried out the Shariah-prescribed penalties as retribution for allegedly giving information to U.S. forces which then carried out drone strikes against terrorist in Yemen.

According to a translation by Shoebat, a report on the crucifixions said, “One they nicknamed ‘Captain’ was executed by crucifixion for three days at the entrance to the city of Jaar in the Abyan province, to be viewed by passersby entering and leaving the city.” Shoebat provided a translation of other summary executions carried out by the jihadists, “Two Saudis and a Yemeni were also executed by the sword at dawn at the hands of Ansar al-Shariah, and [the terrorists] absolved [a] fourth defendant from execution for his young age.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Set to Meet Muslim Brotherhood While Snubbing Netanyahu

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President Obama invited Muslim Brotherhood-backed Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi to meet him in New York next week, right after publicly snubbing a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with him and discuss the escalating crisis over a nuclear Iran. The Egyptian president’s invitation follows upon repeated protests at the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

The initial protest at the Cairo embassy began on the eleven-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and led to the compound’s breach. An official U.S. flag was confiscated and burned. Renewed clashes with Egyptian protesters have led to more American flag burnings and the firing of tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Oddly enough, several protesters spotted at the Cairo embassy were wearing Guy Fawkes masks, which are popular with members of anarcho-socialist movements. It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood is an organization that can be justifiably described as a blending of socialist and Islamist traditions.

Even though the political situation in Egypt is fluid, President Obama forgave a billion dollars owed to the U.S. by the Egyptian government and guaranteed a billion dollar infrastructure loan for the country. A recent intelligence report disclosing increasingly closer ties between Egypt and Iran is a red flag that all effective military aid to the country should undergo further State Department review.

The reaction of the Cairo embassy has been a cause for concern for the Obama administration, which has separated itself from the besieged embassy’s public relations campaign. The Cairo embassy originally condemned “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Palin: Obama Needs to Grow a “Big Stick” & Respond to Libyan, Egypt Embassy Attacks

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On her Facebook page, Sarah Palin slams Obama’s failure to properly respond to the outrageous attacks on the US embassies in Libya and Egypt:

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks ever perpetrated on America, our embassy in Cairo and our consulate in Benghazi were attacked by violent Islamic mobs. In Cairo, they scaled the walls of our embassy, destroyed our flag, and replaced it with a black Islamic banner. In Benghazi, the armed gunmen set fire to our consulate and killed an American staff member. The Islamic radicals claim that these attacks are in protest to some film criticizing Islam. In response to this, the U.S. embassy in Cairo issued a statement that was so outrageous many of us thought it must be a satire. The embassy actually apologized to the violent mob attacking us, and it even went so far as to chastise those who use free speech to “hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.” (Funny, the current administration has no problem hurting the “religious feelings” of Catholics.)

But where is the president’s statement about this? These countries represent his much touted “Arab Spring.” How’s that Arab Spring working out for us now? Have we received an apology yet from our “friends” in the Muslim Brotherhood for the assault on our embassy?

It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.

White House in Disarray: Second Time in Two Weeks, Clinton Directly Contradicts Obama

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by a mob of radical Egyptian Al Qaeda sympathizers on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Clinton’s statements on the day’s events, released through the State Department’s website and Twitter feed, condemn “in the strongest possible terms” an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya in Benghazi that left one American dead, but offer no condemnation of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

Instead, Clinton reiterates an apology issued earlier today by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo–now deleted–which said: “We condemn the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.”

“The U.S. deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others,” Clinton said. “Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation,” she added.

However, the White House has distanced itself from such apologies, according to Politico, saying that they were not “cleared by Washington.” Evidently, there is some discord in Washington.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Embassy in Cairo Makes Outrageous Statement Against First Amendment

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Yesterday, the US Embassy in Cairo put out a shameful statement in response to anger over an anti-Muslim film:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others

A stand against those who “abuse” their right to free speech is best suited to authoritarianism, and it’s absolutely grotesque to see American diplomats embracing it. The effort at appeasement was as inefficacious as it was depraved: The protests against the film in question turned more violent after the statement was issued, when the embassy wall was scaled and the American flag was torn down and burned.

By late this evening this was obvious at the White House: “The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,” a source characterized as a “senior administration official” tells Politico’s Byron Tau.

That’s all well and good; the statement does indeed look like it wasn’t carefully vetted (the missing period after “others” above isn’t my error — that’s how it is on the embassy website). But a not-for-attribution walk-back is hardly sufficient here. Somebody needs to be fired. Given that the embassy’s Twitter account spent the day defending the statement, it’s likely to be more than one somebody that needs to go, perhaps including Ambassador Anne Patterson herself.

Read more from this story HERE.