In April 2013, the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya was attacked and 3 Copts were killed and 84 were injured. The perpetrators were likely searching for weapons in the church or Coptic women who have converted into Islam and are still trapped in the church according to many stories spread by fanatics. They were likely searching for a reason to justify their attacks on Christian houses and churches. Ever since, the fascist regime was collapsing and this attack was a step towards overthrowing the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood. During the transitional period from July 2013 to June 2014, Copts were subject to many sectarian attacks as a price to pay by the Copts for supporting President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, and they are still supporting him.

If you read this article, it means that you have survived the potential attacks against Christians at Christmas celebration. The article is written before the Christmas, and I do not know if the terrorists will succeed in attacking some churches or will police be able to prevent such attacks. You may also be a Muslim reader who reads our electronic newspaper. Anyway, I would like to congratulate you on the feast and the survival as well. I would like also to congratulate the police if succeeded and to offer condolences to the victims if they exist. Dear friends, Egypt is experiencing a critical moment and has to finish all the mega projects and try to survive before another terrorist attack occurs and eliminate our peace and the joy of our achievements. We look at the future with worrisome and at the past with anger. I offer my sincere condolences for the pure Egyptian blood that will be shed as the officials dream to eliminate terrorism with many terrorist institutions supporting your back!

We celebrate the Nativity of Christ once a year, but we also celebrate his birth with every new born child. The Virgin traveled with Joseph to register and the prophecies were fulfilled: “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel” Thus, the Nativity was linked to a national civil even from its very beginning. And so did the Egyptian churches as they are called Coptic (related to Egypt) before they are called Orthodox, Catholic or Evangelical. Therefore, the Copts rejected all invaders and occupation and participated in all revolutions starting with the revolution of 1804 against the Ottoman occupier and the overthrow of the governor Khurshid Pasha until the revolution of July 30, 2013 against the government of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It was a nice video report about an Islamic school in the United States to teach the children how to be the Islamic icon in the West. The school manager pointed out that students should learn how to be good representatives of Islam and to teach the west that terrorists know nothing about Islam. In fact, most of our Muslim friends in Egypt do hate violence, refuse attacks on Coptic Christians, are keen to congratulate them on their feasts and willing to share moments of both joy and grief with them. However, the real problem is the broad base of fanatics that live in simple and rural areas. The majority of them have received low level of education and are struggling with poverty. Those are the main tool of fanaticism in Egypt.

Any country measures its success by how much control it has on the most aspects of the life starting from the agriculture control to control the rules and laws that could be used in the court. Having said that, I can t see any control to the Egyptian government on any of the mess that Egypt live in right now. Lately, I had chance to visit one of the villages I get used to visit when I was child, the village that was full of green and plants; I was surprised to see it full of ugly building and cement.

Egypt should devote its efforts to strengthen relations of love and respect among all Egyptians, the blood of the Copts is not cheap, what the Copts claim is nothing more than the right to a decent human life with their Muslim brethren based on equality, the destruction of Egypt is targeted by the Egyptian Wahhabbi media, the forced conversion of Coptic girls into Islam indicates the extent of the congenital decline because of the Wahhabi finance… these are few statements of the late engineer Adly Abadir Youssef, which I still remember very well, especially with the rise of the fierce Wahhabbi attack on the Copts inside Egypt to kill them while performing their religious rites or right after they finish their prayers. Such targeting continued when the Copts demonstrate to claim their rights. They were hit by armored vehicles without mercy. Not to mention the multiple forms of emotional and sexual seduction that Coptic minor girls face aiming to convert them into Islam.

Sudan announced lately that it is going to give one of its islands to Turkey for unknown reasons and for unknown time. This Island located at the red sea which means that this action will have a conflict of interest because Egypt also has a long border on the red sea.

In what became more of a fanatic ritual, terrorists replaced congratulating Copts on their feast by attacking the places where they celebrate the feasts. This has became a ritual for years, starting with the big hit in New Year s Eve of 2010 where the Saints church in Alexandria was bombed killing dozens of Copts. This has became more of a ritual since nobody was punished for such attacks, even those who proved to be responsible for some attacks, and recently the attacks extended to reach mosques where Muslims are performing their prayers, and yet nobody is being punished including those who incite hatred in the society!

Whoever thinks that the real threat to the Egyptian national security was in targeting Al-Arish airport is missing. The terrorists tried to assassinate the ministers of defense and the interior and they know when the ministers would arrive, but the real threat was in Atfih where the naive accept having dirty streets and corruption in all aspects of their live, but hate to see a cross on a church or hear its bell ring. The real Cornet was not launched in Al-Arish, but rather in the heart of the capital to hit the heart of the homeland. It was launched by negligent officials and lazy clergy who allow extremism and encourage it. I rejoiced when I saw a bridge named after the Christian martyr Abanoub, but my joy was not completed as the mobs attacked the church. The martyr Abanoub sacrificed his life for the homeland as other people incite hatred and destroy that homeland. The real disaster is that such attacks on Coptic Christians and their churches became accepted and supported by customary reconciliation sessions of shame.

In the context of the celebrations of the glorious Christmas, extra security measures have been taken by police and army to secure the celebrations. Egyptian government presented the biggest cathedral in the Middle East, just like President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised last year. Coptic Christians are going to celebrate Christmas Mass in the new cathedral. But the waves of conspiracy didn t stop against Egypt. Therefore, the Egyptian President called the Egyptians to unite against all attempts to destroy the national unity. Some hardliners mobilized hundred of extremists to attack a church in Kafr Waslin village in Atfih. They cursed the church and attacked the church and filmed the attack to arouse the anger of the Copts and incite a sectarian sedition.

Nothing has changed Atfih since 2011. The attacks against the Copts and their churches that continued ever since! The Coptic Church of Seoul village, Atfih, was attacked in 2011, and no one has been punished. Only few sessions of fake reconciliation were held to free the perpetrators and deprive the Copts of their rights. The same scenario was repeated on December 22, 2017 when hundreds of Muslims demonstrated after performing their prayers and attacked the church and the Copts based on rumors that a bill and a cross will be fixed in the church that have neither a dome nor a bell tower!

The last sectarian events happened in Atfeeh, showed without any doubt that we will far away from being state of law or for coptic to be a real citizen. The culture of hatred still dominating the egyptian scene because Egypt still water the plants with the same source of water which make the thoughts and the ideas polluted against the coptis.

Egyptian medical researchers affiliated to the Nile Delta s Mansoura University recently developed a new way of targeting breast cancer cells using silver nano-particles. This came in newspapers days after Eng. Ibrahim Mahlab, Assistant to the Egyptian President for National and Strategic Projects, announced the invention of a new Egyptian technology for water treatment, which was reached by the Egyptian scientist Dr. Nabil Al Maraghi. Reading the news, I resorted back to Sustainable Development Strategy book: Egypt s vision 2030 And Planning Reform wrote by Nihal El-Megharbel, PhD Deputy to the Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform full of positive thoughts. The book mentions that Egypt targets to be among the top 40 countries of quality of scientific research institutions by 2030. Will such inventions be taking Egypt towards fulfilling this dream in 12 years to come? In fact, scientific research is the way to the future and having real development.

People expressed their anger over the decision of President Trump to declare Jerusalem as capital of Israel. This decision was issued 1995 by the Congress, but was avoided for 22 years by three former US presidents: Clinton, Bush and Obama. In Egypt, newspapers headlines reflected such anger and wrath accusing Trump of giving another Balfour Declaration and Demonstrators erupted to burn US and Israeli flags and effigies of Trump. We have to realize our reality if we in the Arab World are serious about becoming doers rather than mere responders to what others does. The masses can do nothing but expressing their anger, but the governments and ruling regimes must do more than denounce or reject the US decision, or export news of their people s angry protest against it. They should instead adopt political stances and decisions that would demonstrate to the US and its President the magnitude of their wrongdoing. We must realize that the US is driven by its strategic interests and national security; this was what made three former US presidents persuade Congress to put off the 1995 decision going into force, in order to avoid anticipated escalation in the Middle East crisis. The three former presidents chose to stabilize the peace process befo

Fasting is a sign of love for God and His commandments by humans. It becomes a powerful means to deepen the love of God in the heart of man. This is how Abba Benjamin, Bishop of Menoufia, told us in his article Fasting and purity explaining the relationship between fasting and purity. Through fasting, the body is purified of instincts and materialistic tendencies. Saints added praises and spiritual practices to fasting in order to receive the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul says, I oppress my body and enslave it . Repression means submission to the leadership of God through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul also says: If you live according to the flesh, you will die Sin comes from the inside the good man from the treasure of his good heart brings out good deeds and the wicked man from the treasure of his evil heart brings out evils Therefore, Christians should sustain spiritual jihad and fasting that purifies our hearts.

Enas, 33 years old, was full of greed and insanity when she planned to kill an old Coptic woman who rents an apartment in her house. She was thinking what kind of mistake her father committed when he allowed a Coptic Christian infidel woman to rent the apartment. She planned and befriended her to make sure when the right time to attack is. The poor Coptic woman Tahani Mikhael started to trust Enas and treat her like a daughter of her own. Without warning, Enas visited Tahani and told her to leave the apartment immediately. The old woman was surprised and entreated her for being a lonely old woman. Enas revealed her ugly face assuring that there is no place for an infidel woman. Refusing to obey her strange request, Enas attacked her and stabbed her 19 times in her neck and chest. The poor woman couldn t resist and left only few scratches in Enas face.

Last week one of the wonderful men died in state after long battle with disease. This is Dr. Tharwat Bassily. I had no chance to meet personally Dr. Tharwat, however, I meet his deeds and heard about his amazing work to help everyone, not just the poor but everyone. Life sometimes is tough when god people leave us, but we will always keep them in our mind because they had great impact in our life and our future.

Once again, the Copts decided to waiver their rights and chose to accept a customary reconciliation session instead of law enforcement in Koum Loufy village where their houses were set on fire. By doing so, some people said they took an initiative to show love and make peace, but the truth is they did so to protect their children since they are treated as weak minority that police won t be able to protect in case those who are attacked them are held accountable.

The best way to evaluate a person in his life is through tests and temptations. This helps to evaluate one s experiences and personality. That s why David the Prophet asked God in Psalm 139 :23-24 saying: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Pope Tawadros II calls us in his article (Test Them All) to test them all; hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5: 21) Our faith in Jesus Christ should be the axis and pillar of our life. Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? This goes along with saving oneself from evil Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. This heart should express love through good deeds The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5: 6)

Putin s visit to Egypt was part of a Middle Eastern tour through Turkey, Syria and Egypt. He met with Bashar al-Assad and came to end the long-term compromise between Egypt and Russia. President Vladimir Putin said that Egypt will get the latest nuclear technology after Moscow and Cairo signed an agreement for Russia to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, with Russia extending a loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction. Putin added during his visit to Cairo that direct flights between Egypt and Moscow will return soon but he didn t say when as if he was trying to secure a decent means of transportation for fans of World Football Cup. It was clear that he is working for the benefit of his country and he was able to get what he wanted.

There is no doubt that Egypt has gained a lot of experience in dealing with terrorist attacks. This was revealed during the crises of Al-Rawda mosque. It was such a brutal attack that caused a great loss of lives (311 martyrs and more than 100 wounded). The terrorist had developed weapons more than any criminal militias all over the world! During the crisis, media reporters tried to interrogate the imam of the mosque to get a scoop, but the media coverage was accurate in general and the officials did a good job in the crisis. The real problem is the lack of reform of the cultural and religious discourse that President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi called to fix three years ago but in vain. The religious discourse is not even able to reach to the public. Therefore, the simple people remain the precious hunting of the fanatics and extremists.