In the past several days, the dynamic of the
protests in Egypt has changed rapidly, and not for the better. What started
out as a genuine and positive pro-freedom movement is being steadily
coopted by the Muslim Brotherhood and other violent and extremist forces.
There is now a growing risk that the overthrow of the Mubarak regime could
lead either to an authoritarian military regime, or a Radical Islamist
regime. We must pray neither scenario comes to pass. The people of Egypt
would be further oppressed. The U.S., Israel and the West would be
endangered…
The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood (which
began in Egypt in the 1920) had initially been caught off guard by sudden
and intense rise of the protests and had not been involved in planning or
developing these protests. But sensing an opportunity, they decided to move
decisively.... They mobilized their followers throughout the country and
told them to take to the streets. That’s when the complexion of the protests
took a turn for the worse, characterized by:
- ...an estimated 60 percent of Egyptian police stations have been set on
fire...
- ...gangs on the streets
wielding machetes and knives
- Government office buildings being set on
fire...
- Looting of shops, businesses and homes
- Muslim Brotherhood members
escaping from prison — example: some 8,000
prisoners escaped from a prison in the east of the country and one
report said “prison guards have joined the protests allowing dozens of
Muslim Brotherhood members to walk out of jail.”
- A rising civilian death toll ...
These are not the actions of a true
pro-freedom movement…President Mubarak’s response
to the protests has been badly overdone and typically authoritarian….
I don’t want to see the Muslim Brotherhood
win. For all of Mubarak’s sins, he is not a Radical. He doesn’t want to
launch a jihad against the U.S., Israel or the West. He has maintained the
peace treaty with Israel. He has worked to counter the Hamas movement in
Gaza. He is strongly opposed to the Iranian nuclear weapons program and has
worked closely with the West to counter it.
The Obama administration needs to be careful
to support positive change in Egypt and support human rights there, without
cutting the legs out from underneath Mubarak precipitously, the way
President Carter did to the Shah of Iran in 1979. The Shah had his many
flaws, no question about it. But Carter’s actions helped trigger the Islamic
Revolution and led to the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the loss of an
American ally, and the rise of a terror-exporting country that has gained in
lethality ever since. We dare not make the same mistakes with Egypt….
I know that ultimately the Lord is in charge,
and this — and nothing else — is what should give us all hope. As the Hebrew
Prophet Daniel once said while living under a brutal Middle Eastern
dictator:
“Let
the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong
to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings
and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men
of understanding.” Daniel 2:20-21
Chronology of Persecution: The Nazi/Arab plots to exterminate Jews
Signs of the times
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