The Obama Administration has decided to give the Egyptian regime a pass on any human rights conditions in the latest $1,300,000,000 foreign aid grant, as reported by the Associated Press on June 7, 2013.
In a letter from the American Secretary of State John Kerry to the US Congress, Kerry cited national security concerns as the reason for the human rights waiver, which Congress put in place in 2011 after the overthrow of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
As mandated by Congress two years ago, any foreign aid to Egypt must be in conjunction with the nation making positive steps forward towards both truly democratic reforms and the fundamental human rights of all Egyptians.
Kerry’s rationale and examples of American national security concerns waived include:
- Egyptian military’s long partnership in promoting Mideast peace.
- American military aid helps protects both Egypt’s borders and the Suez Canal,
- Egypt military is essential to Israeli security against extremists in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.
The Case Of The Copts…
Since the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has dominated the Egyptian government, the minority Coptic Christians, both the Orthodox and Catholic branches that comprise 10 percent of the population, have decried what they perceive as the Obama Administration ignoring their markedly increased persecution by Muslims.
With the MB’s slogan of “Islam is the Solution,” the Copts accuse at the hands of Mohamed Morsi’s MB government not only turning a blind eye to Muslim attacks on them, but actually having Egyptian military and police join in on the mob violence.
The Copts, who were the dominant Faith in Egypt until the Muslim conquest in 639 which eventually resulted in becoming a persecuted minority, include examples of the recent wave of violence against them:
- A car bomb exploded in front of an Alexandria Coptic Orthodox Church killing at least 21 and injuring at least 79.
- The worst sectarian violence occurred in 2011, when the army killed at least 24 Copts in what became known as the “Maspero Massacre.” Army vehicles charged at the protesters and reports of at least 6 protesters being crushed under armored vehicles, including one with a crushed skull, has emerged. In addition, witnesses have confirmed that military personnel were seen firing live ammunition into the protesters, an estimated 36 to 50 were reported killed, and upwards of 322 wounded.
- The government response to the Maspero Massacre, Egyptian national television urged “honest Egyptians” to take to the streets to “protect the military” from Christian protesters. As a result, hundreds of people were seen wielding clubs and machetes alongside riot police chanting “the people want to bring down the Christians”, and later “Islamic, Islamic.”
Examiner.com has also covered a number of cases widely ignored by the Western media, to include:
- $2,400,000 worth of American tear gas arrived to the MB dominated government while thousands of Copts were attacked at St. Mark’s Cathedral by troops and a Muslim mob in Cairo.
- 3,000 Copts were attacked and many of their homes and shops were burned over a rumored cell phone “intimate picture” of an unnamed Muslim woman.
- A pregnant Coptic woman close to her delivery date was beaten by a Muslim who was angry over a new church bell recently installed in a local parish church. As Christian man came to her rescue, a riot ensued. When the police finally quelled the fisticuffs, only Christians were arrested.
- Last year, a number of F-16 fighter jets and 200 M1A1 Abrams tanks were shipped to Egypt. In that single shipment, the MB government was given more M1A1 tanks than the entire US Marine Corps has in its active duty inventory.
