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MEMRI Daily: January 7, 2011 - Alexandria Church Attacks

This week, MEMRI announced the launch of its Global Jihad News (GJN) website, which covers news and developments on jihad affairs, including coverage of terror attacks as well as regularly updated information about individuals, groups, and countries. The GJN is also the central repository of MEMRI and MEMRI TV reports dealing with jihad and terrorism, and provides short summaries and excerpts from MEMRI reports. Exclusive reports on developments in the region are posted as they occur. For example, following the January 1 bombing of a Coptic church in Egypt, the GJN was the first to report on: - A fatwa issued one day before the attack by an influential jihadist cleric permitting such actions. - A statement by a prominent Salafi sheikh that the Copts have violated their treaty with the Muslim, and must be punished. - A call on jihadist websites to conduct similar attacks against Maronite Christians in Lebanon. - Videos from the bombing. As a GJN subscriber, you will have access to information that you will not find anywhere else – and you will read it before the mainstream media reports it. A subscription to the GJN is currently $360 for one year. To visit the MEMRI GJN, click here. To read the MEMRI GJN copyright policy and restrictions, click here. The following are three reports published today from MEMRI’s Special Dispatch Series, the MEMRI TV Project, and the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor about the Alexandria Church bombing. *From the MEMRI Global Jihad News Jihadists Threaten Attacks against Copts during Coptic Christmas Members of the jihadist forum Shumukh Al-Islam threatened attacks against Copts during the Coptic Christmas, celebrated today, January 7, 2011. A member calling himself Ayman435 posted a message warning that "Copts throughout the entire world will enjoy no security until they release our sisters... It is not hard to reach you..." He appended an illustrated guide to producing homemade bombs, translated to Arabic from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's English-language e-journal Inspire. Following Attacks against Coptic Church, Mujahid on Jihadi Websites Calls for Similar Attacks against Maronite Church On January 5, 2011, a member of the jihadi forum Shumukh Al-Islam nicknamed Abulkaka proposed that Al-Qaeda in Lebanon attack the Maronite Church. He asked the terrorist group "to crush the strongholds of the Maronite Church," first abroad and then in Lebanon, claiming that there was no difference between the Maronite Church and the Coptic Church. Prominent Salafi-Jihadi Cleric Abu Basir Al-Tartusi: The Copts Violated the Treaty and Must Face Their Penalty On January 5, 2011, jihadi forums posted an audio recording of Sheikh Abu Basir Al-Tartusi, in which he reacted to the bombing of the Saints Church in Alexandria. The clip is a recording of an online chat which Al-Tartusi, a Syrian expatriate currently living in the UK, held in his personal chat room on the chat website Paltalk.com. In the recording, Al-Tartusi reiterated a stance reflected in afatwa he issued last year, according to which he authorized any action necessary to affect the release of Camilia Shehateh, a Copt woman allegedly imprisoned by the Copts after converting to Islam. Al-Tartusi began the chat by declaring that Christians in Arab countries no longer have the status of dhimmis, or protected people. In his opinion, Christians, including the Copts, have an unwritten contract with the Muslim society in which they live. However, he said, a certain group among the Copts had violated this contract, effectively declaring war on the Muslims. This group, led by "the thief, the wicked Pope Shenouda," had rendered itself an enemy to the Muslim state in Egypt by creating a state within a state, with its own security apparatuses and prisons, especially since it imprisoned Muslim women in these prisons. The group, he said, was responsible for the current situation, and Pope Shenouda "had no one to blame but himself" for its consequences. One Day Prior to Alexandria Church Bombing, Jihadi Website Posted Fatwa by Prominent Sheikh Permitting Targeting of Christians On December 31, 2010, one day before the January 1, 2011 bombing of the church in Alexandria, the website of Sheikh Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi, Minbar Al-Tawhid Wal-Jihad, posted a fatwa by prominent Salafi-jihadi cleric Abu Mundhir Al-Shinqiti permitting the targeting Christians in Islamic countries. This fatwa, issued in response to a question, is the latest in a series of recent rulings by Salafi-jihadi clerics that sanction the killing of Christians. In the fatwa, Al-Shinqiti states that Christians living in Muslim lands today are not considered ahl al-dhimma, i.e. people protected under Islamic law, since they do not meet the basic conditions for enjoying this status. Specifically, they not pay a poll tax to the Muslim ruler or abide by Islamic law, and they are constantly harming the Muslims. Elaborating further, Al-Shinqiti says that the decision whether to attack Christians is up to the jihad commanders in each country. If they decide to do so, it is obligatory to assist them, but if they decide to postpone the campaign against the Christians for tactical reasons, it is forbidden to launch it without their authorization, for this could endanger themujahideen. *Special Dispatch Series Special Dispatch No. 3494—Egypt/Minorities in the Middle East/Conspiracy Theories/Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project Egyptian Intellectuals Accuse the Israeli Mossad of the Alexandria Church Bombing Following are excerpts from reactions to the bombing in Alexandria, Egypt, which aired on various TV channels on January 2-3, 2011. To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2747.htm. Former Egyptian Deputy Minister Abdallah Al-Ash'al: "Today, many young people in Egypt are unhappy. They flee the country and prefer to die on the shores of the Mediterranean, because they have no job opportunities here. If you ask any of them, they will say: If I find anything abroad, I will leave. The Mossad has exploited this. The people who carried out this attack are Egyptians, but the Mossad exploited them." To read the full report, visit http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4899.htm. *From the MEMRI TV Project MEMRI TV Clip No. 2748 - Egyptian-American Writer Magdi Khalil: "The Egyptian Government Persecutes the Copts" Following are excerpts from an interview with Magdi Khalil, an Egyptian-American writer, which aired on BBC Arabic TV on January 3, 2011: To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2748.htm. MEMRI TV Clip No. 2749 - Naguib Gobrael, Head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization: We Always Pin Attacks against the Copts on "So-Called Conspiracies" Following are excerpts from interview with Naguib Gobrael, head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 2, 2011: To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2749.htm.