Robert Fisk Demonizes Mideast’s Persecuted Christians
Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent for the UK’s widely-read Independent, recently showed why it is that Islamic jihadists and terrorists, including the late Osama bin Laden, strongly recommend his propaganda to Western readers.
In a recent article Fisk goes out of his way to demonize the abused Christian minorities of the Middle East for supporting those secularist leaders most likely to preserve their freedoms and dignity. For instance, after portraying the Middle East’s “old guard” in the worst possible terms, he complains that “Ahmed Shafiq, the Mubarak loyalist, has the support of the Christian Copts, and Assad has the support of the Syrian Christians. The Christians support the dictators. Not much of a line, is it?”
In Fisk’s way of thinking, Christians of Egypt and Syria are freedom-haters because they support the secularist old guard, whereas the Sharia-pushing Islamists are freedom-lovers.
“Not much of a line, is it?” — especially from someone who supposedly lives and travels in the Middle East and is deemed an authority on the region. Completely missing from his narrative is why Christians are supporting Shafiq and Assad: because the alternatives, the Islamists, have been making their lives a living hell.
Fisk’s biased narrative is, of course, not original to him, but rather originates with his friends — the Islamists. Soon after the first presidential elections in Egypt, many Islamists bemoaned Shafiq’s good showing, laying the blame directly on Egypt’s Christian Copts, who reportedly came out in large numbers voting for the secular candidates. Tarek al-Zomor, a prominent figure of the Gama’a al-Islamiyya, the terrorist organization that slaughtered some 60 European tourists, including several of Fisk’s countrymen, during the Luxor Massacre, “demanded an apology from the Copts” for voting for Shafiq, threatening that “this was a fatal error.”
Abu Ismail, the Salafi presidential candidate who was disqualified, expressed “great disappointment” in “our Coptic brethren,” saying that “I do not understand why the Copts so adamantly voted for Ahmed Shafiq,” portraying it as some sort of conspiracy between the Copts, the old regime, and even Israel: “Exactly what relationship and benefit do the Copts have with the old regime”?
The uncritical Fisk follows suit and asks the same questions, portraying the Mideast’s Christians as unpatriotic.
Missing from the Islamists’ — and Fisk’s –narrative is the fact that Christians are under attack by Islamists, especially in Egypt and Syria, where Christian women and children are regularly abducted, molested, and forced to convert; where churches and monasteries are regularly attacked; where blasphemy laws imprison or kill, and calls for jizya are back — in short, where Christians are persecuted (see entries for Egypt and Syria in my monthly “Muslim Persecution of Christians” for an idea). Moreover, the ultimate goal of Fisk’s supposedly freedom-loving Islamists — the enforcement of a decidedly anti-freedom Sharia law — will naturally spell disaster for Christians, since this draconian law code emphatically condemns non-Muslim “infidels” to dhimmi status — barely tolerated, second-class “citizens” of the Islamic state.
This low life Robert Fisk would probably have castigated and blamed Jews for not supporting the Nazi party in Germany during the 1930′s.
… and blamed Armenians in Turkey for not supporting Islamic parties. This UK “Independent” must be run some Nazi.
“this draconian law code emphatically condemns non-Muslim “infidels” to dhimmi status — barely tolerated, second-class “citizens” of the Islamic state.”
Kind of like our troops, especially the women, in Afcrapistan, only more so, but not that much more so.
Our troops in Afcrapistan are not even allowed to touch a koran unless they wear gloves. No such requirement exists for muslims, of course muslims are not dirty infidels.
Why would anyone want to touch one without one considering the state of cleanliness of those barbaric patrons
Hey! If you are a dumbass in Egypt, you will be delighted with the Arab Spring. If you are a Copt, a Jew, or anyone else who desires freedom, you should be scared shitless.
If you are a Copt, or a Jew, or anyone else that loves freedom, you will not like the results of the new Egyptian election.
Obama administration (in between attacks on Arizona and Arizonians): “The Muslim Brotherhood are secularists who have promised to respect the rights of people of all religions and both sexes.”
Yep, and when you actually attack me…
Lucky for the Jews themselves, Egypt is pretty much judenrein, the way the Egyptians like it. Smart folks – not.
Fisk has gleefully embraced a fallacy common on both left and right, which holds that, as the song goes, things can only get better. A former colleague of mine actually referred to himself as an anarcho-syndicalist (yes, I know, Dennis the peasant). He maintained that if the current US-led world order of nation-states and “free trade” were to fall, ANYTHING else that might replace it could not possibly be worse. My response: “You have GOT to be kidding, right? Right?” Wrong. Fortunately, he left some months later and is now happily working at (wait for it!) a college, of course.
Why is Robert “beat me again” Fisk still around? The man has made a bafoon of himself on so many occassions I’m surprised he is on any media payroll.
He must be on someone’s payroll, except the media. No one will stoop to this level for free.
The sodomizing of infidels must be declared taboo by Morsi. But the same rabble that shoved a stick up the ass of Gaddafi will be riding motorbikes in the Cairo night, carrying long sticks for the rectums of the godless.
More taqqiya and kitman from a confirmed leftist infidel dhimmi. One has to doubt that Fisk has ever taken a serious look at the Qu’ran and/or Hadith. If so, he must have an IQ well below 100. Of course, he could be a convert to Islam, in which case….
Anyhow, here is the Qu’ran’s take on how to treat “infidels.”
Quran (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” “People of the Book” refers to Christians and Jews. This was one of the final “revelations” from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad’s companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.
Quran (9:30) – “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!”
I recently had a chance to visit the Egyptian embassy with forty-something other students. After the speaker there talked about the revolution, he took questions. One of the students, who is an Arab Muslim with citizenship in Egypt, asked, “Why didn’t the Christian people in Egypt vote for Morsi?”
And I thought, Seriously? He has to explain that to you?
I think to some extent the obvious eludes Egyptian Muslims because they feel a sense of shame by the way religious minorities and secular Muslims are treated in Egypt. (Luckily, the speaker gave the student the correct explanation.)
I don’t think they feel shame. I think they are genuinely perplexed by Christians and other ethnicities not understanding that they are supreme.
Exactly right. We are to accept them as our overlords.
Not..
Or respond with “Operation Overlord”..
It’s a good thing “the One” admonished the Muslim world during his scintillating Cairo oration that it must avoid abusing its religious minorities. Wait … he didn’t say that?
Fisk ashamed? The man has no shame.
In the “moderate” country of Turkey, most of the Christians I know and have spent time with live in fear; most keep their faith a secret from their families out of fear of reprisals, ranging anywhere from being ostracized to being murdered. If they list anything other than “Muslim” on the religion section of their national ID card, it is much harder to find work.
God bless those living under harsher rule.
Fisk is following a tried and true propoganda tactic used with great success in Germany in the 1930′s. The religious minority is charged with being “unpatriotic” and they are accused of loyalty to an outside power (substitute Zionist for Communist).
The Copts still do not get it. They feel themselves as Egyptian as anyone else. They were there before the Muslims were after all. So quickly do they forget that so were the Jews and where are they now.
A word to Coptic Egyptians: by the time it gets to Kristallnacht it may be too late and nobody will come to your rescue. The nice people you have lived and worked with all of your life will shutter their windows when you are dragged from your house in the night.
I have to say that I cannot understand the attraction of a religion that despises women and cannot accept critiscism in any form.
If it’s that good it should have a rebuttal for every argument – it hasn’t and Al Qaeda and the Taliban are not doing Islam any favours – nor is Robert Fisk.
After reading the article, I thought I had something to say. Then Iread “spindok”. I couldn’t add anything to that.
I expect the Egyptian election will have one large similarity to the US election. It will be divided almost equally between those who support the Islamists/Obama and those who vote for anyone who isn’t Islamist/Obama.
Just on a point of principle. In a fair election why should anyone’s choice be condemned, especially by a British journalist with nothing riding on the result?
what did you expect from Robert Fisk, he writes notoriously against The state of Israel, whether or not Israel is in the right or wrong he doesn’t care. he is a lover of the Arabs with a deep hatred directed against Israel. The Christians in the Arab world would support a regime that at least doesn’t wish to annihilate them. I wouldn’t now like to be in the shoes of the Poor Coptic Christians under the new Muslim-Brotherhood so called government of Egypt today. Mohammed Morsi the newly elected Muslim-brotherhood president of Egypt who take’s up office officially on 15/07/2012. He has made his maiden speech which was addressed to the Egyptian people where he promised that the capital of Egypt won’t be Cairo, or Mecca or Medina but Jerusalem, what a good start he has made. May he rot in hell.
meanwhile bob simon of 60 minutes did a hatchet piece blaming Israel for all the problems of Christians in the middle east-from murder to ingrown toenails. The precipitous decline of 60 minutes is sad to watch
Actually, they’ve always been like this. In fact it was worse in the old days, before some of their tactics were exposed. One company filmed 60 minutes filming them, and put together a documentary exposing them; 60 minutes told them they couldn’t show it becuase Mike Wallace was copyrighted or something. Imagine them trying that today.
And they’ve always been anti-Jewish.
Medieval Muslim officers had a sharpened wooden tent peg dangling from their belts; it was believed that when it broke an infidel’s sphincter the evil one would forever obey Sharia Law. Islam is an art of submission, the use of the holy tent peg will again cause millions who are contaminated with pride to bow in reverence to the great one.
Jackie Gleason?
How horrible!
As I’ve said for as long as I can remember: “There is no accounting for flagrant stupidity.” And this guy (Fisk) is as flagrant as they get! (He’s also INCREDIBLY ignorant!)
In the late 1970′s, I was involved in the then pioneer field of monitoring media reporting of media coverage of the middle east. This was long before various organizations emerged who do this activity systematically.
The views of Robert FISK were always somewhat difficult to fathom for me as he opined on the BBC (especially during the 1982 Lebanon war), Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and elsewhere.
In my opinion he is an excellent and very skilled propagandist–and now by virtue of his longevity, the grandfather of a long line of British and other English speaking reportors who follow his tack.
I wonder whether we’ll EVER know if he’s been on some national or NGO payroll without disclosing it.
“I wonder whether we’ll EVER know if he’s been on some national or NGO payroll without disclosing it.”
The truth will emerge after he is long dead, and no one cares, but your mostly likely right.
until bashir succeeded hassan he was on the payroll of syria. i think iran now pays him directly.
Incredible, fantastic, beyond belief, that Robert Fisk can be so dense not to understand the plight of Christians in the Middle East surrounded by Muslims. What a ignorant mor*n.
Why are all of you surprised?
Review his pieces from the late 1970′s — early 1980′s during the Lebanese civil war and PLO occupation of that country. Remember the famous picture released by the IDF of Yasser Arafat’s head taken through the scope of a rifle?
The Lebanese Christians fought various Moslem groups like heck to retain their religion & territorial integrity. Fisk was living in Beirut at the time and portrayed Israeli assistance of the Christian groups as Israeli aggression, to use the phrase that he used.
In my opinion, he may be the best worker that the Soviets, or the Syrians or the Iranians or all of the have ever had. I wonder how he’s managed to survive in a region and line of work where it is quite common for one group to knock off a journalists to tick the other group off. His longevity alone is suspect.
Mr Ibrahim should be awarw that the US state department and NSC officials met in Washington with a delegation of the Moslem brotherhood and coordinated the elections resulted Morsi a president. Back in Iraq the US caused in persecuting the Christians and pushing 65%of them out of the country .It is the US and policy makers who Ibrahim is closed to them who undermine the Christian existance in the Levant,so why follow them here and disapprove their actions there?
Reading between the lines, Mr Fisk is really saying “Eat me last.”
This article is ludicrously miss informed, the Independent is not “widely read” it sell just over 90 thousand copies, which for a nationlly syndicated newspaper in the UK is atrocious.