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.

Dr. Sahar Nasr, Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, said that Upper Egypt is one of the most important areas that will have investment incentive in Egypt. She added that several meetings were held with the investors to monitor their needs. Moreover, a mega project will be held in Upper Egypt funded by a World Bank loan of $ 500 million. The first installment will be 125 million dollars to improve the living conditions of Upper Egypt.

This last week was full of events I had loads of comments but time had run out and not going to miss this week article because I was unable to decide which most important event should be reflected in my weekly article? Not gone a miss my meeting with my readers -if any- even if I had to make my shortest weekly article! First comes First We started the week with the 4th youth annual convention and they had shown -the youth- so much awareness of almost all events but they are still youth which by default means lack of education knowledge and expertise! It shows clearly in 1st day when first questions or comments or demands to the president-you name it as you like- were about clearance to pass from unsafe zones to safer one and the president did not properly understand its hidden meanings his response was just an apology which is not the correct response! We need first to remind the readers or people in general :- WE ARE AT WAR!

We can’t ignore the visit of Pope Francis without pausing and thinking about the implications of this visit, and what this visit could do for Egypt in general, and more specifically for the Christians around the world. We can’t deny that this visit will open many doors that were closed before. One of these doors, is “hope.” I consider hope the most important door for Egyptians and for everyone around the world. When I say hope, I mean the hope for living in peace, not clashing between civilizations as Samuel Huntington was trying to portray in his book by the same name, “Clash of Civilizations.”

As Al-Azhar peace conference is held in Cairo this week, several times did the Islamic scholar Islam Buheiry appear in Egyptian media explaining how does Al-Azhar, the great Islamic institution that was founded more than 1000 years ago, supports the Islamic State terrorist organization and its activities instead of facing it by refusing to call it infidel and teach its ideology in its universities. This comes months after Egypt’s president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi called for “revamping religious speech in accordance with the tolerant Islamic religion. The Egyptian president called on the Awqaf Ministry and Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni authority in the country, to do more to combat extremist ideology and promote a moderate understanding of Islam.

As Pope of the Vatican will visit Egypt on April 28-29, he will meet with Sheikh of Al-Azhar and Pope Tawadros in Cairo. On that occasion, heads of the Muslim Sunnis and the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will meet, and I find this a great opportunity to announce a major humanitarian initiative of coexistence. The three of them can declare a mutual code of ethics, humanity and respect.

During the visit of an Italian delegation to the city of Sharm el-Sheikh to provide digital solutions for the development of the city, and to inspect the security of the airport, Governor of South Sinai Khalid Fouda stressed the importance of restoring Italian tourism to Sharm El-Sheikh to be the majority of tourists in the city of peace.

I couldn’t write this article right after the terrorist attack against two Coptic churches in Alexandria and Tanta on Palm Sunday. The palm on that feast was covered with blood of the martyrs among the congregation as well as police forces who were doing their job by securing the place. I can tell you that this attack comes as part of a greater conspiracy to destroy the Egyptian state just like Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya. However, Egypt is different as it dates back to thousands of years ago when the first government and the first organized army were formed on its land. The Egyptian intelligence has also played an important role in the past few years to prevent the success of such evil schemes in Egypt during what was called “the Arab Spring”.

Three circles Egypt and Egyptians were put in by whom? By the Enemies of Egypt ! 1. Arabs 2. Islam 3. Neutral As or neutral countries invented by Tito, Nehru & Nasser it was meant then not being part of the Warsaw party or the Ne-to party, for those who do not know Ne-to demolished Iraq under the pretext that Saddam Hussein had mass destruction weapons! True Tony Blair apologized for being miss-lead by intelligence, but what does this apology gives the Iraqi people who lost their country, freedom and security? That circle of NUTRALITY had been broken since Czechoslovakia become the Czech republic and Yugoslavia disappeared from the European map!

Tomorrow President Sisi will be going to Saudi Arabia for an official visit, after along time of tension between the two countries, especially after the Egyptian situation that occured with the UN by supporting the Russian and French Revolution relating to the Syrian War. The question we need to answer here is as follows: Are there any benefits from the Saudi Arabia - Egypt relationship? It's difficult to say that the relationship between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has reached to a level we can call "strategic". Basically, Saudi Arabia wants to have Egypt as a support system in case any other country attacks. It is well-known that the Egyptian Army is the only army tha remains now among all the Arab countries.They are the only force that we can consider organized enough, and ready enough, to participate in any war that may occur in the region.

American actor Morgan Freeman said in his interview at “Scoop with Raya” TV show that he visited Egypt several times, and he remembers the most that many cars didn’t have side mirrors. He may be right as many cars do not have side mirrors in Egypt as part of many other negative sides to poverty and retardation in Egypt which I don’t deny in my developing country. Here is another interesting thing: Couple of years ago, Freeman was part of an advertising campaign to promote tourism in Egypt and he has visited several monumental places and unique sightseeing that he could not remember about Egypt. He could only remember the broken side mirrors of Cars! However, I don’t blame him for this as we should promote our strength points and touristic places better than this, not only abroad, but also for the tourists who visit our country.

While celebrating the feast, they suddenly closed their eyes and opened it to see a wondrous light leading to the face of God. I am talking here about the martyrs of the Churches of St. George in Tanta and St. Mark in Alexandria. They were killed on Palm Sunday to celebrate the Easter in heaven. In these days, we celebrate the joyful resurrection of Jesus Christ which was a turning point in the history of mankind. However, evil terrorism has used this wonderful occasion to kill and demolish in the name of God. Several terrorist attacks against Coptic Churches have tried to incite hatred, sectarianism and extremism between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. Yet, Christ faced such evil saying: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven”

Death has always been the end of life. Thus, many people fear it as evil and hateful destiny. Those who love the earth hate death above all. Jesus Christ gave us many marks of the end of earth and said: “So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near”. (Luke 21: 31) Here we must emphasize that trials and tribulations increase the faith of Christians. I remember here the terrible scene of slaying Coptic martyrs in Libya in 2015, which came after a series of torture in order to force them to change their faith. They were forced to carry heavy sand bags and walk for long time after being stripped off under the heat of the sun. They believed the words of Jesus Christ when he said: “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! (Luke 12:4-5)

In the framework of the "Active Citizens" initiative, organized by the British Council in Aswan, Egypt, 7 countries participated when four blind Egyptian girls talked about their experience within the initiative« a challenging step ».

Aya is supposed to be Mahmoud Hassan Mubarak's wifenot too sure if the traditions of Terrorists = Fanatic Muslims = Muslims who transilate Koran verses their own way to justify killing even suwicide isn't suicide banned by GOD? What you call EXPLODING YOURSELF? Well lot of bla bla followed Osama Kamal interview to Aya on dmc and I wonder why? Is she banned by the public from expressing her views just for being a terrorists wife? Is she blacklisted just beause of that or some malicious minds think she was covering his terror acts! There are namy angles to look throughtout a terrorist life some requested to interview his whole family some exreem views to procecute them cause they failed to raise him right!

Although Easter is tomorrow, I want to express my condolences, not my congratulations to all the loved ones and friends of the martyrs of Tanta and Alexandria, after terrorists bombed the two churches on Palm Sunday, leaving more than 50 dead hundreds injured. Also, I believe that cancelling the Easter Celebration was the right decision from Pope Tawadros. I don’t think that celebrating Easter shows respect and sorrow for the people enduring this horrible attack.

The Coptic Christians really appreciate martyrdom and many of them hope one day they will go to heaven as martyrs. This fact coincides with the terrorist attacks that have been targeting Coptic churches for years at feasts to turn the prayers into funerals and the celebrations into mourning. As a Copt, I should say that losing one’s life is considered heavenly gift for the martyr, and we have always been proud that the Coptic Church has offered a lot of martyrs since its very beginning. I believe such appreciation to martyrdom in the Coptic Church comes as sacrificing one blood was considered the greatest offering and sacrifice to make. However, I believe that there are even greater sacrifice and continues suffering that can be more painful than martyrdom.

The blood of Coptic martyrs in Tanta and Alexandria colored the branches of palm that were prepared for the celebration of the feast last Sunday. There is a serious security failure by the security services in Gharbia and Alexandria as they did not intensify the security measures and take all precautionary measures to secure the churches during such Christian celebration, especially at the church in Tanta where an explosive device was dismantled couple of days before the attack. Moreover, one week earlier, another terrorist attack occurred in Tanta at a police training camp, which proves there is a serious security negligence.

Salafis and some scholars of Al-Azhar used to attack Christians and their beliefs without accountability. The state has not taken most reports against those fanatics seriously. The president has called several times about renewal of religious discourse, but the government has cooperated with the fanatics and let them manipulate minds of the people and call the Copts infidels. In fact, the president has to remove the Sheikh of Al-Azhar since the current curricula produced suicide bombers who believe they do the right thing by killing themselves to murder innocent people.

I do not know if the president will refuse to meet the families of the martyrs until he names the terrorists who carried out the attacks against the Coptic churches on Palm Sunday. However, he may name directors of security and senior officials on charges of complicity by negligence. The truth is that the terrorists would have never succeeded without such negligence and failure. I also remember here the hero of police forces who saved hundreds of Egyptians by sacrificing his blood, namely officer Emad RAkaiby.