By
Source: Raymond Ibrahim, April 9, 2013
Published on myIslam.dk: April 19, 2013
Egypt’s Coptic Christians frequently accuse State Security and police of overlooking Muslim attacks on Christians and their places of worship, especially monasteries and churches. The Western mainstream media often ignores these accusations, or mentions them in passing as “unsubstantiated reports.” Last weekend’s assault on the St. Mark Cathedral — unprecedented in significance — was no different, except for the fact that there are many pictures demonstrating State complicity.
To recap: After last Sunday’s St. Mark Cathedral funeral service for Egypt’s most recent Christian victims of jihad — including one man set aflame — gangs of Muslims attacked the Christian mourners, resulting in the deaths of two more Copts, including one shot through the heart. Hundreds of Christians retreated back into the cathedral — both to get out of harm’s way, and to protect their holiest site. They were trapped there all night, enduring projectile and firebomb attacks. State Security also opened fire on the cathedral, including through tear-gas.
Several Egyptian media outlets and newspapers, especially the popular Youm7, have published a variety of pictures showing mobs, if not terrorists, attacking the cathedral in front of absolutely indifferent, possibly approving, security forces. Some of these pictures, with my captions, follow:
Muslim ”youth” climb to the roof of a building adjacent to St. Mark
Cathedral to attack it. To the left, a man winds to hurl a projectile
at it. And in the white circle to the right, high-ranking Egyptian officials
and security stand by watching (easily recognizable by their hats and
helmets)
A better close up. This image shows a masked sniper with rifle in hand
preparing to open fire at the cathedral — confident that security forces
will not intervene
Same man opens fire
Another man prepares to hurl stones at the cathedral, even as security
forces stand by watching
A masked man, with a rifle, sits inside an Egyptian armored vehicle
— bought with U.S. taxpayer money — and fires at the cathedral
More snipers attacking Copts and their cathedral
Yet another picture showing rioting Muslims throwing projectiles (upper
left-hand corner) at the cathedral. A man with a pole (in yellow circle)
dismantles or destroys something — a cross, or something else of Christian
significance? — and Egyptian “security” (lower left-hand corner, in
red circle), idly stand by
St. Mark Cathedral, holiest site for Egypt’s indigenous Christians —
and home of the Coptic pope — now turned into a war zone, under Muslim
Brotherhood leadership
A Muslim burns a Bible in front of the cathedral, right under security’s
nose. In Egypt, if a Christian is merely accused of “desecrating” a
Koran, he/she gets several years in prison. Yet here is a Muslim burning
a Bible, with photo evidence, but he has nothing to fear
A collage of some of those on rooftops firing at the cathedral. Most
of them are known by name — including the second one in the Palestinian
scarf — and Copts regularly report them to police and security, to no
avail
More rooftop terrorism against the cathedral
The aftermath: the entrance of Coptic Christianity’s holiest site, the
St. Mark Cathedral, after Egypt’s Muslim mob and State Security were
through with it
Finally, lest there be any doubts as to the Islamic nature of this attack, here is a video of Muslims chanting “Allahu Akbar!” in front of the cathedral as smoke rises from it:

Raymond Ibrahim, a Middle East and Islam specialist, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum. A widely published author, best known for The Al Qaeda Reader (Doubleday, 2007), he guest lectures at universities, including the National Defense Intelligence College, briefs governmental agencies, such as U.S. Strategic Command and the Defense Intelligence Agency, provides expert testimony for Islam-related lawsuits, and has testified before Congress regarding the conceptual failures that dominate American discourse concerning Islam and the worsening plight of Egypt's Christian Copts. Among other media, he has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, PBS, Reuters, Al-Jazeera, CBN, and NPR.
He is also the author of: Crucified
Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians,
and the newest book: Sword
and Scimitar, Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West.
(This short biography is taken mainly from Ibrahim's own web site: RaymondIbrahim.com)