Mylook Online Christian World News 8-4-2013

Muslim Brotherhood 'taking anger out' on Christians

August 4, 2013

WND.com reports: “In the wake of the military coup in Egypt earlier this month, media reports frequently recounted the violent clashes between the military and supporters of the ousted Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohammed Morsi. What is not often reported, however, is the brutal treatment of Coptic Christians, usually at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

‘Members of the Muslim Brotherhood have taken their anger out specifically on Christians because many Christians wanted the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi out of power and were speaking out, including the Coptic pope,’ said Jerry Dykstra, spokesman for Open Doors USA, one of the leading organizations reaching out to the persecuted Christian church.

‘So in the last three weeks or so, we’ve seen Christians targeted, especially a Coptic priest who was killed in northern Sinai. An Egyptian businessman was killed and beheaded in northern Sinai. Churches were also burned and Christians were driven out of their communities,’ Dykstra told WND. ‘Whenever things get bad, Christians are almost doubly in the spotlight and the crosshairs and we’re seeing this now as things get even worse.’…”

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US lawmaker says al-Qaida threat most serious in years

August 4, 2013

The Jerusalem Post reports: “The al-Qaida threat that closed US embassies in the Middle East on Sunday is the most serious in years and the ‘chatter’ among suspected terrorists is reminiscent of what preceded the Sept. 11 attacks, a US lawmaker who is briefed on intelligence said.

The State Department closed 21 embassies and consulates and issued a worldwide travel alert warning Americans that al-Qaida may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.

‘There is an awful lot of chatter out there,’ Senator Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on NBC's ‘Meet the Press.’

He said ‘chatter’ - electronically monitored communications among terrorism suspects about the planning of a possible attack - was ‘very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11.’

The threat also has prompted some European countries to close their embassies in Yemen, where al-Qaida affiliate al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is based.

‘This is the most serious threat that I've seen in the last several years,’ Chambliss said…”

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Egyptian Brotherhood leaders to face trial for inciting murder

August 4, 2013

The Jerusalem Post reports: “The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and his deputy will face trial in three weeks' time for crimes including incitement to murder during protests in the days before the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi, a Cairo court announced on Sunday.

The move showed the army-backed interim government was pushing ahead with a crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood, to which Morsi belongs, while international envoys try to help resolve the political crisis brought on by his removal by the army on July 3.

State news agency MENA quoted the court as saying it would start the trial of Mohamed Badie and his deputy Khairat el-Shater on Aug. 25.

The general prosecutor also ordered the pre-trial detention for 15 days of Rifaa El-Tahtawy, Morsi's former chief-of-staff, and his deputy, who are accused of inciting the detention, torture and interrogation of protesters in 2012, MENA reported.

Morsi's allies view them as political detainees who should be included in talks to ease tensions…”

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Fort Hood Victims to be Questioned by Attacker

August 4, 2013

Israel National News reports: “Survivors of the Fort Hood massacre in Texas in the United States face questioning at the hands of the man who shot them. The shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, will be representing himself in court.

The trial is to begin on Tuesday this week. More than 250 people will be testifying against Hasan, including relatives of the people he killed.

Victims of the shooting told AFP that they were anxious about the trial, but plan to testify despite Hasan’s expected involvement.

‘I think he is doing this on purpose to continue to taunt and victimize us,’ one victim said.

Another victim, who was left blinded after being shot five times in the attack, said, ‘I will conduct myself with dignity… I will let him know that he cannot push me. I bend, I do not break.’

Hasan previously admitted to the massacre, in which he murdered 13 people and wounded dozens more. In documents published by AFP, Hasan was quoted as saying, ‘Is this a war on Islam? You bet it is. I participated in it.’…”

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Iran's President Warned: Fighting Israel a Top Priority

August 4, 2013

Israel National News reports: “With the full endorsement of Iran's chief mullah, Ali Khamenei, newly installed Iranian President Hassan Rohani, presumably agrees with the theological and political positions of the Iranian Islamist leadership.

Nevertheless, senior Iranian leaders have made it abundantly clear that even if he were contemplating any changes to the policies of the Islamic Republic, he does not have the authority to do so. In a recent speech, top Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami, a close confidante of Iranian Supreme Ruler Ali Khamenei, issued a warning to the future president Hassan Rouhani: If he wished to remain in power, he must confirm and carry out the ‘Supreme Leader's’ anti-Israel policies.

A report issued by MEMRI, the Middle East Research Institute, quoted Khatami, speaking on behalf of Khamenei, as saying ‘if the Zionist regime wants to attack Iran [even] in the most minimal fashion, we will destroy Tel Aviv and Haifa. We fear no one.

‘As the leader [Khamenei] instructed, we are assisting any Palestinian group that wants to fight the Zionist regime,’ he said, adding that the Iranian leadership was very pleased at how Iran played a role during Operation Pillar of Defense, when Hamas hammered Israel with rockets and missiles. Thanks to Iranian-supplied Fajr-5 missiles, ‘Tel Aviv was turned into a ghost town’ during the war.

Israeli officials said that they did not know what Khatami was talking about, as Tel Aviv had not been evacuated during the war, and that in fact there had been only a small number of missile alarms sounded in the city. In fact no missiles actually hit the city at all…”

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