A conference that took place in the US last week accused Egypt of persecuting Copts. It also revealed some unsavoury connections, writes Emad Mekay from Washington A controversial US-based conference ended earlier this week with calls for greater US pressure on Egypt, and restrictions on Washington's aid to Cairo, in light of alleged persecution of the nation's Coptic Orthodox Christians. The three-day event, which took place from November 16-19, also made public the ties between US-based Coptic leaders and some of the staunchest proponents of regime change in the Arab world, including former Israeli officials, critics of Egypt and Islam, and key members of the neo- conservative movement that was influential in promoting the US invasion of Iraq. The conference's hawkish tone was clear in suggestions by some Coptic leaders that the situation in Sudan -- involving heavy-handed US intervention on behalf of that country's southern Christians and the installation of a southern vice-president in Khartoum -- was a promising model for Egypt's Copts. Sponsored by Christian Solidarity International, Copts- United.com, the US Copts Association, and the Ibn Khaldoun Centre in Cairo, the conference also often became little more than a forum for assailing Islam and its institutions, with key speakers accusing Muslims of using force to convert Egypt's Copts. Conference chairman Adel Abadeer told the audience via a video link that Copts were "living in a very miserable situation... The law in Egypt is the law of the jungle." According to Nadia Ghali, an Australia-based Coptic activist and member of the conference's steering committee, "the Egyptian government is guilty of... injustice... against Christen women." Ghali also accused Al-Azhar "of encouraging the use of force in converting young women to Islam". Ghali was speaking at an informal congressional hearing -- being held parallel to the conference -- that was supposed to be attended by two members of the US Congress (Tom Lantos and Frank Wolf) who have consistently battled to cut military aid to Egypt as a way of pressuring Cairo into adopting policies more aligned with Israel's interests. Lantos and Wolf are also the co-chairs of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus. Congressmen Phil English and Robert B Aderholt chaired the informal hearing instead. English suggested that the US might want to reconsider both its aid package, as well as plans for a free trade agreement with Cairo, if the alleged persecution of Copts persisted. Egypt is the second largest recipient of US foreign aid. "Obviously it is apples and oranges to tie human rights issues to trade relations," English said. "But the fact is most Americans... would prefer to trade with societies with which they have common ground. Given the generous support that... tax payers have provided in aid, Americans have a strong interest" in issues related to intolerance of religious minorities, he said. In her testimony, Ghali said mosques in Egypt routinely use blood donations to bribe sick young Coptic women into converting to Islam. She charged that Egyptian authorities run "hidden" camps where young Coptic girls are forced to learn the Quran, hadith and other Islamic disciplines with the ultimate purpose of converting them. Michael Munir, a Coptic activist who leads the Washington-based US Coptic Association (USCA), also made a passionate plea to Congress to use US aid and trade to penalise Egypt for alleged discrimination against Copts. Munir's group nearly brought US Muslim and Coptic communities to blows earlier this year when it publicly accused Muslims in New Jersey of killing a four-member Coptic family; investigations into the brutal murder later revealed that it was committed by non-Muslim drug dealers motivated by robbery. The USCA, however, has refused to apologise for its original finger pointing. Also participating in the conference were Muslim speakers who -- in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the US -- have made names for themselves as Middle East experts who are highly critical of Muslim societies and the Islamic faith. Among them was Shaker El-Nabulsi, a Jordanian writer who has called for UN-based trials of Muslim clerics who support Palestinian or Iraqi resistance groups. El-Nabulsi spoke about "how Muslims reject the other". Marketing the conference was Eleana Benador, a Peruvian-born businesswoman whose publicity agency, Benador Associates, has represented key neo-conservative figures such as Richard Perle, Frank Gaffney and Michael Ledeen, all of whom played roles in rallying US public opinion into supporting the war in Iraq. Some of her clients have also called for military action against Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia and even, in some cases Egypt. Also notable among the newfound friends of the US Copts Association is Nir Boms, a former Israeli Embassy official. Boms, vice-president of the pro- Israel Centre for Freedom in the Middle East, served as vice-president of the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a right-wing group with ties to the Israeli Likud that was founded two days after the 9/11 attacks. Munir has been quoted in the past as saying that Copts would seek help from all international players except Israel. However, according to lawyer Mouris Sadeq -- a long-time advocate of Coptic rights -- it was only natural for US Copts to deal with Israel, since the Egyptian government does so as well. "If [Israel] extends a helping hand to the Coptic cause, and only the Coptic cause, then we welcome them. What have the Arabs done for our cause? What has the Arab League done for the sake of the Coptic issue?" Sadeq asked. Boms's neo-con views are frequently featured in publications like The Jerusalem Post, FrontPageMagazine.com and The National Review. The latter two often advocate regime change via military action in Arab countries deemed hostile to Israel. Boms also served in the Israeli army as a communication officer, and holds the rank of Lieutenant. On 21 November, he shared some of his more valuable real estate space in the US press with Munir. They jointly wrote an impassioned opinion piece in the right-wing The Washington Times that was reminiscent of articles about the plight of Iraq's Shias and Kurds under Saddam Hussein, that appeared in the US press before the March 2003 invasion. In their opinion piece, Boms and Munir recounted the horrors and "massacres" suffered by Egypt's Coptic minority. Another influential conference participant was Nina Shea, a member of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a quasi- official group that has often censured Egypt and other Muslims nations for alleged atrocities against Christian minorities. Shea is an associate of Freedom House, a neo-con human rights organisation headed by James Woolsey, a neo-con hawk who once headed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and has used the phrase "World War IV" to describe what he called the current conflict with "Islamofascism". Shea's USCIRF colleague Elizabeth Prodromou, herself an Orthodox Christian, told the informal congressional hearing that Copts were habitually persecuted in Egypt. In an emotional statement, Prodromou claimed that the four people who died in the 21 October Alexandria clashes between Muslims and police were Copts. All four were actually Muslims: two Muslim demonstrators; and two Muslim policemen. Like Munir and other Coptic leaders, Prodromou urged Congress to use US aid to catalyse political change and more rights for Copts. She suggested setting up "benchmarks" that the Cairo government should meet to avoid aid cuts. "If benchmarks are not met, the US government should reconsider the dimensions and direction of its economic assistance," she advised. Other neo-con Arab detractors present at the meeting included Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, a leading neo-con publication. Barnes was a major promoter of the Iraq war during his frequent TV appearances on the right-wing Fox News Channel. With such a stunning array of neo-con luminaries on their side, it is perhaps unsurprising that the rhetoric from Coptic groups in the United States has escalated. "By all measures, standards and rules," Abadeer said of the Egyptian government, "they have no humanity, no morals, no character, nothing. They do not believe in God, [and] they will pay the price."
