We had alerted Fady that we would like to interview him following the Washington protests last Friday organized by American Copts. We were able to finally catch up with this courageous young Copt who is also a talented musician who composes and plays Christian music with a band in Egyptian Churches. As he pointed out during our interview, playing Christian music in government facilities is not permitted in Egypt.
Fady at one point in our conversation today discussed something very concerning. How the US Embassy in Cairo treats Muslim Brotherhood visa applicants differently from Christian ones. He illustrated this with two vignettes. A daughter of a friend of his mother’s went to the US Embassy to apply for a visa to attend a program in the US. Next in line to her was a man dressed in Shariah compliant attire, who clearly was Muslim Brotherhood. His English was not very good, while hers was excellent. He leaned over at one point and asked her how he should respond to a question about the space in the application requesting his purpose for applying for his visa. She asked him why are you going to the US? He replied, “to spread Islam, to preach Islam”. She told him then if that is your intended purpose you should write it in the space. He did. His visa application was accepted while hers was rejected.
The other story has to do with Gergis’ own application for an R-1 religious workers visa. He is going to Kansas City to work with an evangelical Christian group on Christian music. He had submitted the appropriate documents from his employer and the sponsoring group in Kansas City to the US Department of Homeland Security Immigration Control and Enforcement Division and had been cleared. When time came for him to go to US Embassy in Cairo, he was confronted by a consular officer, an American, who hectored and lectured him and ultimately informed him that he was rejecting his R-1 Visa application. This despite that he is not on a persons of interest, terrorist or no fly list.
When we talked about whether things had settled down following the violent protests perpetrated by the Muslim Brotherhood when the military and security service emptied Mosques and public tent cities in Cairo and other cities. He indicated that the police presence, armored vehicles and military were ever present. He also said that the interim government was very much in charge of things and that the military had restricted activities to dealing with terrorists and left the police and security forces to handle normal functions.
We addressed the massive torching of Churches, Christian owned businesses and homes by the Muslim Brotherhood that occurred on August 15th. We brought up the destruction of the Monastery of the Virgin Mary , a 4th Century A.D. complex located in Delga in upper Egypt. It is a revered Coptic monument that Sam Tadros, Egyptian American Copt and Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom, had written an opinion piece about for the Wall Street Journal. The church complex was traditionally attended on major Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter. It was revered as the legendary spot where Mary and Joseph drank from a well and lived in a cave following their flight from Judea. Gergis said that he knew of other ancient churches that were burned in Assiut located in Upper Egypt approximately six hours from Cairo. Attacks on Coptic Orthodox Christian sites in Upper Egypt have occurred because it is also a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood.
When asked about whether the Copts had received any assistance from Western Christian and Orthodox groups such as the World Council of Churches, the Vatican, and others, Gergis said all they received were “expressions of sympathy”. None of the Church related groups offered to assist by providing funding for rebuilding of burned or sacked churches, pharmacies, businesses or homes owned by Copts. He said that Gen. al-Sisi promised to provide government funding to rebuild the churches.
When the matter of the Tamarod (rebellion) came up in the interview we asked him about the mysterious group that launched a massive petition campaign that ultimately resulted in the coup that ousted Morsi. He said that he and millions of others thought little about the signing a petition could lead to such a tumultuous climax on June 30th with millions marching in the streets of major cities throughout Egypt. He said he still doesn’t know much about the group’s leaders, except that he disagrees with one of their stands, ending the peace treaty with Israel, but agreeing with Tamarod about rejection of US Aid.
Gergis said that many people and especially the military contend that ending the peace treaty with Israel could only lead to another defeat if a possible conflict arose between the neighboring countries. He did agree that Israel and Egypt are cooperating against the threats from Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Salafist terrorist groups in the Sinai.
On the matter of rejection of US military aid, he considers that as blackmail. Moreover, many Egyptians believe that continuing acceptance of US military aid might lead to return of the Muslim Brotherhood to power. Besides that he views as silly the US flip flopping practically every other day about providing or ceasing military assistance. The promised tens of billions of aid from Emirate states, Saudi Arabia, Russia and China far surpass what the US provides.
On one matter, Gergis was perplexed about Israel. Egyptians took note on TV of signs on display at the Al Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem requesting the return of President Morsi and wondered why the Israeli government permitted that. I told him that the people waving those signs at the Dome of the Rock were members of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, who are basically Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood inside Israel. I told him that the Israeli government had a nettlesome problem contending with this fifth column among its Arab Muslim citizens. I expressed the opinion that Sheik Raed Salah and his followers of the Northern Branch should be offered the choice of deportation to Jordan or more likely Gaza for their sedition.
We asked Gergis about the reaction of Copts to protests launched by their American brethren in Washington at the White House, the CNN studios and the national headquarters of the Council of American Islamic Relations, what some in this country have called the “embassy of the Muslim Brotherhood.” He said he and others in the Egyptian Coptic community were pleased to see that people cared enough to organize this protest that caught the attention of the media. It demonstrated that some in America came out in solidarity to publicize their plight in Egypt.
We hope that Gergis can finally obtain his R-1 visa to travel to Kansas City. Perhaps this interview may result in his receiving it.
Listen to our interview with Fady Gergis and a track of one his piano pieces, here.
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http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/50199