Terry Jones and Friends

Yesterday I noted Pastor Terry Jones’s new “Stand Up America!” organisation – not to be confused with the established right-wing group of that name – with which he intends to come to the UK in February to address the English Defence League. The group’s main focus is

standing up for the Christians & minorities in Islamic dominated countries. In Egypt Christianity is persecuted everyday and America closes its eyes. Even the Christian churches in America refuse to see to the brutality and inhumane treatment of those that do not accept Islam as their religion. Stand Up America! will continue to protest and speak out on these issues as well as abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage and other areas that the modern church of today shy away from…

To this end, Jones held a protest at Ground Zero on 16 November, and a protest outside the Egyptian consulate in New York on 11 December. His site lists various allies in these activities:

The Truth TV

The National Coptic Association

The American Coptic Association

The International Christian Union

The American Defense League

The 9/11 Ground Zero Truck

The “9/11 Ground Zero Truck” – owned by a certain Mark A. Niemczyk – can be seen in action here, while the American Defense League appears to be a British-created offshoot of the EDL – Real Human Rights notes that the group’s Facebook page has a url which uses the British “Defence” spelling. There is also a “Denver Division” with a Facebook page here. In the run-up to Saturday’s protest, Emily Sapp – the daughter of Jones’ weird assistant pastor Wayne Sapp – stopped by the Facebook page of the Youth Defense league to plug the event and Jones’ book. However, this page is for fans of a 1980s skinhead band of that name, rather than having any connection to the EDL; probably Sapp didn’t realise the difference.

The National Coptic Association and the American Coptic Association appear to be both the same outfit, actually the National American Coptic Association, run by a certain Morris Sadek (vars Morris Sadik; Maurice Sadek). He describes himself as

one of Egypt’s leading human rights advocates. He is President of the Egyptian Center of Human Rights for National Unity in Cairo. In October 1999, he became Advocates’ Counsel for Middle East Affairs with a special focus on Egypt, as well as a director of our International Institute for Law.…Morris Sadek Esq is a president of national American coptic Assembly – non profit org

He has a somewhat chaotically-written blog here. According to a recent entry (probably an Arabic report that has gone through Babelfish):

Morris told the National Assembly approved Prime Coptic-American that he went at the request of the U.S. administration calling for the moratorium on the export of wheat to Egypt, due to the exposure of Copts in Egypt of oppression – as he claimed -.

Sadiq said in a protest march organized by the Copts in New York, featuring the Rev. extremist Terry Jones, owner of a lawsuit burning the Holy Quran, to condemn the riots that occurred in the city of Abu Tisht recently, “Hey America, Wake-man Egyptian and Christians in my country burn their homes,” and claimed in Htavath that “The Egyptian government persecutes Christians and exclude them from high political positions.

Further garbled details from appear on this site:

Called Rev. extreme “Jones” His idea of burning the Koran in the area of the twin towers of World Trade in America to march to protest on Eid al-Adha, in the same area starting at eleven am to two hours to stand in mourning for the victims of the accident the eleventh of September.

Jones said in the statement, which was launched in partnership with – Ahmed Abaza, Head of Channel truth of Christianity in America – and Maurice Sadek National Assembly President Coptic America under the name “coalition of the Giants” The march is aimed to find out to mourn the martyrs of America, Egypt and Iraq who are affected by the hand of treachery Islamic descendants of Arab invaders occupiers the land of Egypt, Coptic and Pharaonic on behalf of the doctrine of Islam fascist ideology espoused by all the Muslims of the world such as Mohammed Atta, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Omar Abdel Rahman, and their tails of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, according to a statement.

The statement called for Jews to continue to liberate “Jerusalem” from the hands of settlers and the expulsion of Muslims, also urged residents of southern Sudan to continue in their battle for a state separate from the north, saying,”O brave people of South Sudan, O triumphed on the Arab Muslims in Sudan have continued in your state New South Sudan Christian, we support you and are ready to make precious and cheap for the liberation of southern Sudan from Islamic fascism,And will soon be freed of Egypt Coptic Muslim settlers, as liberated Spain, Israel and South Sudan.

However, not everyone is impressed with Sadek; according to one report from 2009:

Other than serving as president of the National Coptic Assembly, Sadek is also president of the Human Rights Center for National Unity in Egypt, which was established in 1995. He was an advisor for Middle East affairs with Advocates International based in Fairfax, Virginia in 1999-2000.

His provocative views have turned-off former associates, including those who initially joined him in establishing the human rights center in Cairo. Leading activist and Copt, George Ishaq, is one of them. He thinks that Sadek is in search of wealth and power.

“[Sadek] is ignorant and does not have a clue about what he is talking about,” Ishaq told the Middle East Times in his downtown Cairo office.

“Here in Egypt, Sadek is not listened to because he doesn’t know anything and is only trying to make himself famous and get people to give him money,” Ishaq said, adding, “What we need to talk about is citizenship, because essentially we are all Egyptians and we need to live together and stop seeing religion as a dividing issue.”

….[Sadek] wrote: “Although the Palestinians are the invaders of the land, instead of thanking Israel for food and help, they declared war. This is Islamic hate. Their place today should be the Higaz [Saudi Arabia] where they came from; and instead of thanking Israel for giving them a piece of its land to live on, they declared war.”

Ishaq said that while Sadek’s views are also held by some within Coptic communities abroad, in Egypt, he is seen as “crazy.”

…Sadek argued that Egypt was the rightful home of Copts, “not the Arab descendants that now live in the country” and has told Muslims to leave the country. On the Web site, he explicitly wrote, “I am an Egyptian. Do not call me an Arab.”

Ahmed Abaza and Truth TV, meanwhile, have an Arabic language website here; the site advertises Abaza’s association with Terry Jones. Abaza is the author of a memoir, I Was Blind, But Now I See: A chilling escape from the mask of Islam, into the new found light. According to the blurb:

Ahmed Abaza was born and raised in Egypt, of a very famous, influential and well known family. At age 17, he began the challenge of converting from Islam to Christianity. In 1991, Mr. Abaza graduated from Alexandria University with an Economics Bachelor degree. After seeking religious refuge in many countries he now lives in North America. Mr. Abaza published his book I Was Blind, But Now I See in Arabic and English. He has appeared on various news channels, live talk shows and pre-recorded tapings on satellite stations that air internationally. He wrote for newspapers such as The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Jewish Express, The Windsor Star, and Voice of an Immigrant (the New Jersey publication). Through the Voice of an Immigrant, he addressed President George W. Bush in an editorial letter. Mr. Abaza currently speaks at various events, seminars and conferences to discuss the persecution in the Middle East. Mr. Abaza has been called “the Sword in Islam” by various Middle Eastern newspapers like The Arab World due to his frankness and forthright comments about Moslems and their brutality. For the past nine years he has hosted chat sessions on PalTalk.com to help reveal the truth and to minister to others. He is in the process of launching a new satellite station called The Truth Broadcast Network (TTBNTV), airing in July 2007. This station will focus on religion and persecution without censorship. He feels it is his duty to expose the Middle East’s corruption in reference to the torture and killings of Ex-Muslims and Christians. Ahmed Abaza’s mission is to reach the Moslem community and minister to them by bringing out the truth that lies in the Koran in the various hidden passages and to minister to anyone seeking knowldge.

He also uses the name “Hope Shine”, and a bio can be seen here.

12 Responses

  1. Terry Jones is coming across as a progressive.

    Most Americans don’t even know what a Copt is, and since Jones does, and since he’s also aware of the incredible discrimination Copts endure, then kudos to him for attending the rally last Saturday.

    Religious minoritiers in EVERY muslim majority country experience horrendous oppression, and anyone willing to highlight and denounce that oppression should be encouraged and supported.

    Contrast and compare Jone’s behavior with the hate-filled rants of savage, pagan dirtbags like Qaradawi.

  2. Terry Jones doesn’t even know the first few verses of the Quran, yet he writes books calling himself the foremost expert on Islam. Couple that with his homophobic stance and racist outbursts and yeah, real progressive. I also find it funny that he worked with the Westboro Baptist Church. Isn’t that church famous for picketing at soldier’s funerals and shouting that the soldiers will go to hell and that Jesus is happy that they died and will burn? Surely the Hooligan Scum calling him over would know this. Or, most probably, they don’t care what happens to oldiers. They just want to march like they were able to back in the old days, chanting racist stuff and wreaking havok.

    Anyway, Egypt’s current leadership is just another puppet of the US and Israeli governments in the Middle East. The recently released Wikileaks cables take away any doubt. What’s happening in Egypt is because the US supports it. Besides Christians, Muslims are arrested every month by the 1000s because the government is afraid that the Egyptian people won’t take their US backed oppression anymore and might actually vote for the Muslim Brotherhood. That’s right, people trust the MB more than they trust the US backed dictators.

    Ofcourse, we never get any mention of the Muslims that are arrested and killed by the government from the Islamophobes. Who cares about them, right? I am curious though. Could it be that decades of Christian state sponsored terrorist attacks and coups, some sort of Egyptian Defence League was set up to combat Christian extremism? Seems like the logical answer…

  3. It’s interesting to hear that June believes that support for Copts is the mark of a progressive. She will be pleased to hear that Qaradawi has a long record of defending the rights of Coptic Christians in Egypt. In 1997 he backed the formation of the Wassat Party, in which Copts played a full role and which argued that it would be a positive step for a Copt to be elected to the Egyptian presidency.

    Indeed, when Qaradawi spoke at the Regent’s Park mosque in 2004 he recounted the following story, as an example of Islam treating everyone fairly irrespective of their faith :

    “When the son of the Governor of Egypt, Amr ibn Aas, abused the son of a Coptic, an Egyptian Christian, the father of the young man who was abused traveled for one month all the way to Madinah to complain to the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab (RA)…. He did not bother to complain to anybody; he knew that nobody was going to listen or serve justice. But he knew that Islam would do justice. So, he went to Madinah and complained to the Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab and Caliph Omar immediately summoned the governor of Egypt and his son. The son of Amr ibn Aas said, ‘I am the son of the respected noble.’ Caliph Omar turned to the son of the Coptic and said, ‘Beat the son of the noble – this is what he deserves’.”

    • As do most Muslims in Egypt. Unfortuantely, any talk like that is squashed, violently, by the US and Israel backed dictator. Every single election there is rigged. And yet the Islamophobes never mention the Muslims that are arrested and killed by that regime or that the Muslim Brotherhood, disagree with them on stuff as I might, might actually turn Egypt into a better place. But we’ll never know as they will not get into power because we don’t like actual democracy, just dictators.

  4. As do most Muslims in Egypt. Unfortuantely, any talk like that is squashed, violently, by the US and Israel backed dictator. Every single election there is rigged. And yet the Islamophobes never mention the Muslims that are arrested and killed by that regime or that the Muslim Brotherhood, disagree with them on stuff as I might, might actually turn Egypt into a better place. But we’ll never know as they will not get into power because we don’t like actual democracy, just dictators.

    The Arabo-muslim world has, of course, no role in supporting and encouraging the dictators and tyrants that dominate nearly every one of its countries, right?

    If there are multiple defects, flaws and imperfections in these socieities, and there certainly is, it can never have any indigenous origins, can never have anything to do with Islam, and must neceassarily be the result of outside “Kuffur” agents!

    Not!

    The Arabo-Muslim world is populated by losers. It is for that very same reason that the Arabo-Muslim world has no science, technology or viable industrial sectors.

    This kind of religious culture doesn’t produce Nobel Prize winners, in case you haven’t noticed. In the Arabo-Muslim world EVERY LAST field of human endevour, be it science, technology, physics, chemistry, philosophy or literature, is stunted and warped precisely because of the influence of Islam.

    Magdi Allam has written volumes exposing the causes and nature of this backwardness, and…as if this needs to said… his honesty and transparency have earned him multiple death threats.

    Allam has also stasted that the Arabo-Muslim world hates Israel to the nth degree, not because it’s ‘occupying’ Muslim land, but beacuse its perfermance in every field of human enterprise simply shows up how backward, stupid and primitive “the-best-of-humanity”, the Arabo-Muslim world, actually is.

    Israel’s mere presence puts the lie to everything Islam stands for and to everything Muslims believe in!

    Everything.

    Suck it back EJ!

    • Since the Arabo-Muslim world is populated by such losers, June, I guess there’s no reason any sane individual would worry about them taking over the world, is there?

      • Don’t say that to June, you’ll make her head explode.

        June KNOWS that she is sane, Juna also KNOWS that the MOOOSSLIMSS ARE COMIN’ TO GIT EVERYONE… AYIIIEEEE!!

      • This is the same question we used to ask during our history classes: if the Nazis saw the Jews as inferior, why were they so worried about them taking over? It’s pat of the curriculum on Weimar and Nazi Germany. To show just how idiotic the Nazis and their propaganda of Jews taking over was.

  5. “The Arabo-muslim world has, of course, no role in supporting and encouraging the dictators and tyrants that dominate nearly every one of its countries, right?”

    Once again, I direct your attention to the recent Wikileaks. Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia… All of these Arab countries are supported by the US and Israel. And all of these countries are ruled by dictators. And why can they get away with it? Because we station our soldiers there to protect these dictators from their people, from the Muslims, who would overthrow them and their oppressive regimes if we were not there to kill them at the first sign of a revolution. The only country that isn’t controlled by the US and Israel in the Middle East is Iran, and we can all see from the Wikileaks cables, that the US backed dictators support action against Iran, even though the citizens of those countries do not. The EDl has the gall to march here, and, together with Islamophobes like you, dares to say that Muslims are taking over. yet we don;t hear a peep from you scumbags about how our soldiers, the soldiers who teh EDL supposedly supports, keep dictators in power throughout the Middle East. Dictators who kill the citizens of their countries, rig elections and then go and attack Christians in their countries. Why? Not because of Islam but because they can. Because they have our soldiers supporting them and protecting them from any reovlution by the Muslim population.

    Why do you think the Muslim Brotherhood is so denounced in our media? Because we support the current dictator of Egypt. The same guy who attacks Christians and Muslims and rigs elections. Why do you think our media denounces Iran? Because we support the scumbags in the House of Saud and the racists in the Knesset instead of actualy democracy and the citizens of those countries.

    “If there are multiple defects, flaws and imperfections in these socieities, and there certainly is, it can never have any indigenous origins, can never have anything to do with Islam, and must neceassarily be the result of outside “Kuffur” agents!”

    So, will you apply this same logic to the EDl and your own Islamophobic sentiments? Will you say that the problems in the UK are not down to Muslims? That it is us who is out there causing trouble in the Middle East? That it was our illegal war which created millions of refugees which we had to take in? Ofcourse not. That kind of honesty does not compute for you.

    “This kind of religious culture doesn’t produce Nobel Prize winners, in case you haven’t noticed. In the Arabo-Muslim world EVERY LAST field of human endevour, be it science, technology, physics, chemistry, philosophy or literature, is stunted and warped precisely because of the influence of Islam.”

    There have been Muslim and Arab winners of those prizes. Not in as large numbers as Europeans. But then again, are we going to blame Christianity for the same problems in South America? I know you won’t. Hypocrite, you said?

    “Magdi Allam has written volumes exposing the causes and nature of this backwardness, and…as if this needs to said… his honesty and transparency have earned him multiple death threats.”

    Magdi Allam, another noob who got famous and rich because he found out he could make lots of money if he pretended to be a devout terrorist Muslim who converted to Christianity. Europeans and Americans just love that kind of stuff. Nevermind that he is actually just another intellectually deficient author who regurgitates the same points Orientalists have been spewing for centuries. I wonder though: Islamophobes like you like to point out that Islam condones Taqiyya. Even though your understanding of that term is rooted in complete and utter ignorance and regurgitation of Nazi propaganda, why dont you Islamophobes every accuse gold diggers like Allam of that? Surely you must see they’re only in it for 1 thing?

    “Allam has also stasted that the Arabo-Muslim world hates Israel to the nth degree, not because it’s ‘occupying’ Muslim land, but beacuse its perfermance in every field of human enterprise simply shows up how backward, stupid and primitive “the-best-of-humanity”, the Arabo-Muslim world, actually is.”

    Yes, that must be it. /sarcasm. it couldnt be that Israel is a racist apartheid state where black people are called the lowliest of the low, Rabbis say that Halacha forbids seeing them and Arabs as human and selling and or renting to them, it’s terrorist agencies board and kill innocent citizens of various countries etc etc. No it has to be because Israel is somehow “superior”… And then they blame Muslims of somehow espousing a superiority doctrine.

    There are many advances and leaps in technology being made in Muslim countries. But they are never talked about here, because we can’t allow them to be seen as on par with Israel or producing anything other than people that want to kill us. Iran’s technology and research is coming up in leaps and bounds, more so than any other country in the Middle East. That, with it’s industrial sector, mining etc is going to propel it to a leading power in the Middle East. Which is one of the reasons we are being urged to attack it, because, as the recent Wikileaks said, Israel cannot be allowed to lose its superiority. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

    “Israel’s mere presence puts the lie to everything Islam stands for and to everything Muslims believe in!”

    How? All Israel’s presence merely does is show we support criminals and citators more than we do actual democracy and human rights. We apparently invaded Iraq because of some UN resolution it wasn’t living up to. Israel hasn;t lived up to any of the 100s of UN resolutions. I wonder whether the warmongers like you will support invading Israel because of that? But we all know the answer.

  6. […] “Egyptian chap”, as I blogged here, is Morris Sadek of the self-styled “National American Coptic Association”. I […]

  7. […] there is a need for caution. I discussed Sadek a few days ago, and his links to Pastor Terry Jones in 2010. Nabil Bassida is named by Egyptian government as “Nabil Adib, the media […]

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