Egypt: US Congress Writes to Egyptian President Mubarak About Coptic Killings

Egypt: US Congress Writes to President About Coptic Killings

Following is the text of a letter from Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

We write today to express our grave concern regarding numerous reports that have emerged of six Coptic Christians and one Muslim security guard who were tragically killed following a Christmas Eve service in the town of Naga Hamady in Qena province, Egypt.

Initial press accounts indicate that a gunman accompanied by two others drove by the church opening fire on the worshipers as they exited the service.  Additional reports indicate that thousands of mourners in Naga Hamady that turned out to show their support for the victims’ families at the funeral were sprayed with tear gas by government security forces.  We call upon you to urge the judicious use of force by government security forces during this difficult time and to ensure that the three perpetrators that have voluntarily turned themselves in to authorities are properly prosecuted.

Unfortunately, this recent incident is indicative of a systematic pattern of violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian population.  As you know, Coptic Christians comprise approximately 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million population and are an integral part of Egyptian society. We urge you to better protect the Coptic Christian community by properly investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of violence against Coptic Christians, providing compensation for victims of violence, and ensuring the protection and preservation of Coptic places of worship.

The State Department’s 2009 International Religious Freedom report states that the Egyptian government’s respect for religious freedom “declined somewhat during the reporting period based on failure to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of increased incidents of sectarian violence.”  The United States Congress continues to increase economic assistance to Egypt and has recently created an endowment to “further the shared interests of Egypt and the United States.”  As members of the U.S. Congress, we see the protection of the Coptic Christian community as a “shared interest” and strongly urge you to reverse Egypt’s trend of failing to properly investigate and prosecute incidents of violence against Coptic Christians.  We also call upon your government to address ongoing discriminatory practices affecting the Coptic community, including the difficulty in building and repairing churches, poor representation in certain government bodies, and security harassment of converts.

Expressions of religious intolerance, which are occurring in Egypt with alarming frequency, are cause for worldwide concern.  We urge the Egyptian government to obviate such incidents by ensuring the equal protection of the law and equal rights for all citizens and by taking swift and effective action to prosecute any such incidents that occur.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Sen. Sam Brownback
Rep. Frank R. Wolf
Sen. Ron Wyden
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Sen. James M. Inhofe
Rep. Dan Burton
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Rep. Bob Inglis
Rep. Joseph R. Pitts
Rep. James P. McGovern
Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo
Rep. Todd W. Akin
Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis
Rep. Barney Frank
Rep. Jan Schakowsky

— see also:

Egypt: Christians of Egypt are Massacred, and President Mubarak is Still Silent

end-copt-hate

A3P Leader Calls for Removing Black Americans’ Rights – Promoted to Aryan Nations and National Alliance

Per R.E.A.L.’s report on the American Third Position (A3P) group, their leader “Bill” Johnson has promoted a Constitutional amendment calling for revoking black Americans voting rights and deporting them from America.  The OC Weekly reports that A3P’s “Bill” Johnson promoted his “Pace Amendment” to neo-Nazi, white supremacist organizations Aryan Nations and National Alliance.

When “Bill” Johnson ran as a judge in Los Angeles County in April 2008, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported on his history as “James O. Pace,” and his call to revoke the 14th and 15th Amendment from the U.S. Constitution, via the “Pace Amendment.” The Metropolitan News-Enterprise described Bill Johnson as “a white supremacist who has advocated the deportation of non-whites from the United States.”

The OC Weekly reports that Bill Johnson “tried peddling his Pace Amendment to various white-power organizations, including the National Alliance and the Aryan Nations. (a 1986 report noted that Johnson and other delegates to that year’s World Aryan Congress ‘opened the meeting by giving the traditional Nazi salute as the Aryan Nations’ flag — a swastika slashed by a sword — was raised’).”

OC Weekly also reported that Long Beach State psychology professor Kevin MacDonald is “now partnering with local skinheads and a notorious racist lawyer to create a new political party modeled after England’s fascist British National Party, a new party created explicitly to oppose and deport non-whites.”

R.E.A.L. notes that A3P claims that it is conducting a door-to-door campaign in Southern California, stating on January 18: “Splitting into two 2-man teams, the group was able to cover about 100 homes, before retiring to a speaking engagement put on by a local Nationalist group.”  White supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke’s blog has promoted A3P’s activism in California.

"Bill Johnson" Leader of "American Third Position" -- aka James O. Pace (Photo: OC Weekly)
"Bill Johnson" Leader of "American Third Position" -- aka James O. Pace (Photo: OC Weekly)

California: “White Nationalist” Led Group to Run Candidates Nationwide — American Third Position (A3P)

SPLC reports on a new political organization the “American Third Position (A3P)” led by white supremacist William Daniel Johnson,whose logo prominently includes Nazi apologist Charles Lindbergh on the front page.

On January 5, 2010, OC Weekly reported that A3P had listed its mission statement as: “The American Third Position exists to represent the political interests of White Americans.”  R.E.A.L. notes that this is how the A3P mission statement is described on its promotion by the “American White Pride Network” (AWPN).  The American White Pride Network encourages links to “nationalist news feeds” from: American Renaissance, Stormfront, Western Voices World News, White Civil Rights.  A3P is promoted by the Neo-Nazi Stormfront group and the white supremacist Occidental Dissent.

— SPLC reports

— “The co-founder of the American Third Position (ATP), white supremacist Los Angeles lawyer William Daniel Johnson, says his new California-based group plans to run as many candidates for political office around the country as it can muster.”

— “In an interview with Hatewatch last week, Johnson said that he intended to qualify ‘high-level people,’ meaning prominent white nationalists, for campaigns on the ATP ticket in a large number of states. He did not elaborate on what states or offices, or precisely when, but said that that would be decided in coming months.”

— “ATP was created last October. It was reportedly brought together by members of Freedom 14, a racist skinhead group in Orange County, Calif., who initially formed a group called the Golden State Party to run candidates. But that group collapsed when reports surfaced about the criminal past of its leader, and so the Freedom 14 members decided to create a replacement group — the American Third Position.”

— “For his part, Johnson is a long-time racist activist. In 1985, he wrote a book under the pseudonym James O. Pace called Amendment to the Constitution. It proposed a constitutional amendment to repeal the 14th and 15th amendments (respectively, making freed slaves citizens, and prohibiting the denial of the right to vote based on race) and replace them with the ‘Pace Amendment.’ That amendment would only have allowed whites ‘in whom there is no discernible trace of Negro blood’ to be U.S. citizens. Hispanic whites, Johnson added in a generous moment, might also be granted citizenship, but only if their ‘appearance [is] indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe.'”

When “Bill” Johnson ran as a judge in Los Angeles County in April 2008, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported on his history as “James O. Pace,” and his call to revoke the 14th and 15th Amendment from the U.S. Constitution, via the “Pace Amendment.” The Metropolitan News-Enterprise described Bill Johnson as “a white supremacist who has advocated the deportation of non-whites from the United States.”

The OC Weekly reports that Bill Johnson “tried peddling his Pace Amendment to various white-power organizations, including the National Alliance and the Aryan Nations. (a 1986 report noted that Johnson and other delegates to that year’s World Aryan Congress ‘opened the meeting by giving the traditional Nazi salute as the Aryan Nations’ flag — a swastika slashed by a sword — was raised’).”

"Bill Johnson" Leader of "American Third Position" -- aka James O. Pace (Photo: OC Weekly)
"Bill Johnson" Leader of "American Third Position" -- aka James O. Pace (Photo: OC Weekly)

OC Weekly also reported that Long Beach State psychology professor Kevin MacDonald is “now partnering with local skinheads and a notorious racist lawyer to create a new political party modeled after England’s fascist British National Party, a new party created explicitly to oppose and deport non-whites.”

R.E.A.L. notes that A3P claims that it is conducting a door-to-door campaign in Southern California, stating on January 18: “Splitting into two 2-man teams, the group was able to cover about 100 homes, before retiring to a speaking engagement put on by a local Nationalist group.”  White supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke’s blog has promoted A3P’s activism in California.

In addition to its website, A3P has developed a Facebook site to also recruit new members.

We support our unqualified, universal human rights for all.  We urge white supremacist and “white nationalist” supporters to drop the burden of the hate of supremacism from their hearts, and to rejoin the family of humanity in support of our universal human rights.  Choose Love, Not Hate.

West Bank: Report on Hate and Bigotry by Shapira and Elitzur

Jewish Daily Forward: “Rabbinic Text or Call to Terror?”
— Article reports on extremist views reporting on anti-human rights views of Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar:
— Daily Forward reports on Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar’s statements that:
— “‘The prohibition ‘Thou Shalt Not Murder” applies only ‘to a Jew who kills a Jew,’ write Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Non-Jews are ‘uncompassionate by nature’ and attacks on them ‘curb their evil inclination,’ while babies and children of Israel’s enemies may be killed since ‘it is clear that they will grow to harm us.'”

The Daily Forward also reports that “Previously, Israel has arrested settler rabbis who publish commentaries supporting the killing of non-Jews.”

Responsible for Equality And Liberty stands by our universal human rights and condemns supremacist hate of ANY kind, including the comments referenced in this article by the Rabbis.

Choose Love, Note Hate.

Communist China removed as top priority for U.S. spies

Communist China removed as top priority for U.S. spies
— Washington Times reports: “The White House National Security Council recently directed U.S. spy agencies to lower the priority placed on intelligence collection for China, amid opposition to the policy change from senior intelligence leaders who feared it would hamper efforts to obtain secrets about Beijing’s military and its cyber-attacks.”
— “The downgrading of intelligence gathering on China was challenged by Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta after it was first proposed in interagency memorandums in October, current and former intelligence officials said.”