THE ALWAYS INFORMATIVE RAYMOND IBRAHIM ON "WHOEVER DISBELIEVES, STRIKE OFF HIS HEAD"!!

‘Whoever Disbelieves, Strike Off His Head’: Muslim Persecution of Christians, February 2015

Gatestone Institute All throughout February, Copts, the largest Christian minority in the Middle East, were slaughtered. Around mid-February, the Islamic State released a video depicting 21 Coptic Christians being decapitated. The executions took place in Libya, another nation along with Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State has carved a niche for itself. While holding their victims’ bodies down, Islamic State members shoved their fingers in the Christians’ eyes, craned their heads back, and sliced away at their throats with knives—all in the name of Allah and Islam, even as the slaughtered called out on the “Lord Jesus Christ.” Over one month before the video appeared, the BBC had falsely reported that the majority of those now slaughtered Copts were “released.” (Such downplaying of Muslim persecution of Christians is standard for the BBC.) In the video, the lead executioner waves his dagger at the camera while saying, “Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of as-Sham and Dabiq’s plain [Syrian regions], chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time. And today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.” He concluded by declaring: “We will fight you [Christians] until Christ descends, breaks the cross and kills the pig” (all eschatological actions ascribed to the Muslim “Christ,” Isa). Also in February it was revealed that Egypt’s Al Azhar University — seen by many as Sunni Islam’s most authoritative voice — continues to incite enmity for and violence against non-Muslims “infidels.” The Islamic university was exposed as offering free of charge “a book,” in the words of an Egyptian secular critic, “whose latter half and every page—indeed every few lines—ends with “whoever disbelieves [“infidels”] strike off his head.” On February 23, yet another Coptic Christian man was fatally shot in al-‘Arish, Sinai, by members of the Islamic terrorist group, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis. Hani, the Coptic man, was in his shop when three terrorists drove by and opened fire on him; he immediately died from bullets lodged in his head. Weeks earlier, masked gunmen stormed the home of another Coptic Christian man residing in al-‘Arish. After robbing him and his family at gunpoint, they shot him several times in the head, instantly killing him. According to the slain man’s wife, her husband was murdered “only because he was a Copt [i.e., Christian].” She pointed out that the masked intruders robbed everything in sight—including the money in his pockets, the jewelry she was wearing, her handbag, cell phones, and even a Bible. Then, after plundering everything, and for no practical reason, they shot the Christian “infidel” in the head, leaving his wife widowed and his children orphaned. On February 2, the Islamic State announced that it had executed yet another Christian priest in Mosul — Paul Jacob, who was kidnapped eight months ago. His parish was also blown up. The execution reportedly took place in Ghazlani Camp in southern Mosul where a militia camp is located. Although various Arabic media reported this story, the Chaldean Patriarchate denied “recent news stories that report a priest being executed by Islamic State militants in Mosul.” The Islamic State terrorized Christians in other regions during the jihad. In the early hours of Monday, February 23, IS fighters attacked several Christian villages along the Khabur River in north eastern Syria. Four Christians enrolled in the Assyrian militia were killed and one young civilian child. One Christian woman was raped by the Islamic invaders before being slaughtered. Approximately 250 Christians—including women and children—were taken hostage. The majority, around 230, are still being held. The Islamic State is demanding 23 million USD to release them. If the exorbitant ransom is not met, and based on precedent, the Christian hostages will likely be enslaved, raped, and or simply slaughtered. Several churches were also torched or damaged during the jihadi raid, including the church in Tel Hurmiz, one of the oldest churches in Syria, the Mar Bisho church in Tel Shamiran, the church in Qabr Shamiy and the church in Tel Baloua. This raid further “brought to light [the] deplorable conduct on the part of other persons,” namely the West, said Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo: "I wish to say quite clearly that we have the feeling of being abandoned into the hands of Daesh [Arabic acronym for ISIS]. Yesterday American bombers flew over the area several times, but without taking action. We have a hundred Assyrian families who have taken refuge in Hassakè, but they have received no assistance either from the Red Crescent or from Syrian government aid workers, perhaps because they are Christians. 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