"Egypt’s Muslim/Christian “Reconciliation Sessions” by Raymond Ibrahim

 How the Terrorized Are Forced to Submit to the Terrorists

Just days ago, a Muslim mob attacked a Coptic church in the Upper Egyptian village of Tal al-Quiblya, in Minya Governorate. Shouting sectarian slogans, the assailants pelted the church with stones, injured several Christians, and damaged both the building and the priest’s car. When police finally arrived, they proceeded to arrest four of the Christian victims.

Two days later, those Christians regained their freedom only after agreeing to withdraw their criminal complaint against the Muslims who had assaulted them.

At first glance, this appears to be another example of Egypt’s chronic failure to protect its Christian minority. It is that—but it is also something more. The incident exposes the inner workings of one of the Egyptian state’s most effective mechanisms for shielding anti-Christian violence from legal consequences: the so-called “reconciliation session” (جلسة عرفية).

These sessions are routinely portrayed by officials as noble efforts to preserve “social harmony” and prevent sectarian tensions from escalating. In reality, they achieve the opposite. They do not reconcile aggressor and victim so much as compel the latter to surrender to the former.

By now, the formula is familiar. A Muslim mob attacks Christians. Police intervene—not primarily to enforce the law, but to calm down the violence and avoid being accused of doing nothing. Christian men who defended their homes or churches are detained, threatened with prosecution, or otherwise pressured. Once sufficient leverage has been applied, local officials convene a “reconciliation session,” where the victims are expected to forgive, forget, and return home empty-handed.

FULL ARTICLE AT: https://raymondibrahim.substack.com/p/egypts-muslimchristian-reconciliation?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6873559&post_id=207702518&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1v9n4o&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email