Dozens of Islamists demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Giza on Friday. The demonstrators included Salafist Jihadis (warriors), which is an offshoot of Salafist (ultraconservative Muslims). The protesters were sprinkled with al-Qaeda's lobbyists in the country, who were led by the brother of al-Qaeda's chief Ayman el-Zawahri. They chanted anti-France warmongering slogans. They protested the French military offensive against al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in the eastern African country of Mali. Islamists' traditional black flags emblazoned with religious mascot (two crossed swords), and inscribed with the text 'No God but Allah' and ‘No Ruling but Allah's' were raised during Friday's demonstration. The spokesman of the General Islamic Trend, (GIT), Khaled Harbi, said that the Muslim country of Mali was witnessing a crusading war. Harbi said that the Western crusaders did not want the rule of Muslim Sharia (law) in Mali. The spokesman was escorted by grim-faced young and old camaraderie who were passionately chanting slogans for martyrdom. He vehemently pledged that Islamists were preparing for a global battle to 'put an end to [the West's] hegemony on Muslim countries. In the meantime, the Salafist Jihadis in the demonstration condemned Westerners for being Kafir (infidels). In a statement released during the demonstration, the Salafist Jihadis said: "The infidel West is deploying its warriors of the Devil to run amok across our Muslim land and extinguish the light of Islam." Likewise GIT's spokesman, the Salafist Jihadis warned Western countries that their crusade would boomerang. After the defeat of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the outbreak of the hellish Arab Spring, different Arab and Muslim countries have been appealing for Western help to stop atrocities by Islamists against innocent Muslim civilians. The West appreciated successfully the Arabs' call for help in Libya by ousting dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In collaboration with the US, the alleged grandchildren of the Crusaders of the (European) Middle Ages, are now trying futilely to stop war atrocities between a Muslim ruler and Islamist opposition in Syria. On this occasion, the Muslim nations' appeal from the West should highlight the fact that the term 'Crusaders' was coined by Muslim radicals and dictators during the Middle Ages with the intent of increasing anti-Christian sentiment in Muslim lands. Throughout successive campaigns by the Crusaders in the Middle East centuries ago, Crusaders did not attempt by any means to spread Chrisitianity. No Muslim countries in the Middle East converted to Christianity after the Crusaders with drew. Historians should revise and re-examine the textbooks being used in schools to ensure a fair and balanced, and accurate rendering of history. Doing so would help children better understand the true motives behind the Crusades. Historians who practise their profession according to these standards are well-qualified to compare the conditions that Muslim peoples now live under those of the Middle Ages. An honest, neutral, and thorough examination of historical facts are certain to reveal that Muslims today live under the same conditions as those in past times. Does this perhaps shed light on the Crusaders and their motives in Muslim countries? If so, perhaps the only real difference between now and then are the names of the specific people involved and the demarcation of political boundaries, which would mean that history has repeated itself and is available for all to see in modern times. Protesters in front of the French embassy ignored the fact that it was Mali's legitimate Muslim ruler who had appealed for military help from the international community (represented by the UN's Security Council). The government in this African Muslim country raised its appeal after Islamists, who received high-level war tactics training in al-Qaeda-run camps in Afghanistan and North Africa, committed systematic atrocities against innocent civilians. The poorly equipped army in Mali failed to protect the people and was compelled to abandon two towns in the north. Islamists ran a reign of terror—in the name of Allah—in towns and villages they seized in their war against Mali's legitimate government. French troops battling Islamists in Mali are not escorted by bishops or rabbis to force poor Muslims in Mali to convert to Christianity or Judaism. To retaliate as cowardly as they have done before in several situations, Islamists attacked a gas field in the neighbouring counry of Algeria and took Muslim and European workers hostage. The Islamists threatened to slaughter their captives unless France halted its attack on their camps in Mali. Slogans chanted in front of the French embassy were misleading. Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists are deceptively calling for the rule of Islamic Sharia in Islamic countries, and in non-Muslim states later on. These Islamists brutally enforced Sharia in Afghanistan and Somalia, women who had allegedly committed adultery were stoned to death; limbs of young men who had planned to defect from al-Qaeda were amputated; girls were forced to remain at home and were prevented from attending school.
