"The Basic Message Is Hatred": The Persecution of Christians, September 2021

In this mailing: - Raymond Ibrahim: "The Basic Message Is Hatred": The Persecution of Christians, September 2021 - Amir Taheri: Syria: Geopolitical Tragedy [] ["The Basic Message Is Hatred": The Persecution of Christians, September 2021]( by Raymond Ibrahim • October 24, 2021 at 5:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - "[T]he humanitarian crisis that is developing as the Taliban returns to power is likely to become a genocide against Christians if the Biden Administration does not act...." — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, American Center for Law and Justice, August 27, 2021. - "[T]he possibility of there being a genocide against Christians in the wake of this withdrawal is extremely high. Already, the Taliban is compiling lists of known Christians and their communities. They are going door to door searching Afghan homes for Bibles, even searching smartphones for Bible apps." — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, American Center for Law and Justice, August 27, 2021. - "We allowed the Fulani Muslims who are migrants to settle among us on our lands for free. Now, Christians who welcomed and accommodated them have become targets of their attacks." — Dominic Gambo Yahaya, local leader, Morning Star News, September 29, 2021, Nigeria. - "A human rights activist [Patrick George Zaki, a 30-year-old Christian graduate student] who wrote about his experiences as a Coptic Christian in Egypt has gone on trial on the charge of spreading false news." — BBC, September 28, 2021, Egypt. - Anas Khalifa—for 20 years one of the most influential Salafist preachers in the nation—now calls Salafist Islam (fundamentalist Islam) "a cancer" and "a worldview that is spreading rapidly among young people."...Anas also said that "They [Salafists] spread hatred against Christians and Jews, strong prejudices about other groups. The basic message is hatred." — Anas Khalifa, influential Salafist preacher, svt.se, September 22, 2021, Sweden. According to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, "the possibility of there being a genocide against Christians [in Afghanistan] in the wake of this withdrawal is extremely high. Already, the Taliban is compiling lists of known Christians and their communities. They are going door to door searching Afghan homes for Bibles, even searching smartphones for Bible apps." (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) The following are among the abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of September 2021: Muslim Slaughter of Christians Afghanistan: Muslims linked to the Islamic State murdered four Christians. While trying to escape the country, a Christian family was intercepted by the jihadists. According to a local source: "ISIS asked them, 'we have tape about you that you are no longer Muslims. So is it true that you are not Muslim?' They said, 'Yes, we are not Muslims anymore. We are Christians.' So the men of this family were killed at the spot. The children and women, they let them go." Also and in keeping with what several international human rights groups are warning, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote an article in which he expressed his concern that a "genocide" of Christians is brewing in Afghanistan: [Continue Reading Article]( [] [Syria: Geopolitical Tragedy]( by Amir Taheri • October 24, 2021 at 4:00 am [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [WhatsApp]( [Telegram]( [Send]( [Print]( - [W]hat is planned isn't the actual writing of a new constitution but "drafting" unspecified "reforms" to a non-existent constitution. If this sounds like diplomatic gesticulation, don't be surprised because it is exactly that. - Syria today isn't a constitutional problem. - [W]hat is still lacking is a clear American strategy for reviving Syria as a nation-state, the only outcome that can contribute to regional peace and help the long-term interests of the United States and its allies. Without US leadership, the European powers won't be able to play the crucial role they could and should claim in helping end the Syrian tragedy. - If Syria is recognized for what it is, that is to say an ungoverned territory, the UN's role would have to help restore sovereignty to the Syrian people who should have the final say on how they wish to be governed and by whom. And that can't be done by diplomatic gesticulations in a hotel suite in Switzerland. The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, has brought the so-called "Constitution Committee" out of its two-year hibernation to "start drafting for constitutional reform." What is planned isn't the actual writing of a new constitution but "drafting" unspecified "reforms" to a non-existent constitution. If this sounds like diplomatic gesticulation, don't be surprised because it is exactly that. Pictured: Pedersen meets with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad in Damascus on September 11, 2021. (Photo by Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images) Desperately trying to retain a modicum of relevancy in the Syrian imbroglio, the United Nations has shaken an old ghost out of slumber to claim a few headlines. The UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, has brought the so-called "Constitution Committee" out of its two-year hibernation to "start drafting for constitutional reform." Notice the words "to start", "drafting" and "constitutional reform". This means that after two years of real or imagined deliberation, the committee is no further than the starting point. Even then, what is planned isn't the actual writing of a new constitution but "drafting" unspecified "reforms" to a non-existent constitution. If this sounds like diplomatic gesticulation, don't be surprised because it is exactly that. To reduce the role that the United Nations could potentially play in helping bring Syria out of the current deadly impasse to mere gesticulation is regrettable to say the least. 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