The European Union announced that it allowed citizens of 5 Arab countries, including Egypt, to enter its territories, after canceling the precautionary measures to confront the Corona virus. A list of 54 countries around the world will benefit from the decision, among them: Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, according to the website of the Schengen Info website. This news, though being shocking for the Gulf countries, but many people see it, including myself, as a testimony to the health system in Egypt, despite all the observations and problems since it was issued by the European Union that cares for its people above all. A greeting to Egypt s doctors and their great efforts during the pandemic. I hope the health system in Egypt improves and overcomes all problems and mistakes that were made till the pandemic is over.

We live in times of surprises that either we create or face. The intervention of thought, religion and philosophy raised the value of man and improved his behavior. Media indeed plays an important role in that account that it became one of main tools to refine the human personality and raise it to the maximum levels of sophistication and urbanization. Thus, media has to play an important role not only for news broadcast, but to teach people about better thinking and behavior. The media has a prominent and effective role in the process of socialization because it is attractive and amusing. It also teaches people about their community as well as all aspects of their lives. Such educational role of the media has to be organized before it destroys the process and confuse the audience. Today, we have very limited control over what our children see, but we need our national media to work hard on preserving our culture and achieving development and reform.

A man should avoid extremism and always think about other people. Thus, I decided to imagine what would I feel if I were a Coptic and hear about shooting 6 people dead in Nag Hammadi on Christmas eve, just for being Christians. This attack that is described as hate crime. The state announces that the Constitution and law deal equally with Egyptians, but Copts don’t enjoy freedom of worship and the religion mentioned on the Egyptian national ID is clear reason for such discrimination. Media is also increasing such discrimination by supporting religious identity of Egypt and mix it with politics. In my book, the revolution of woman, I said that our problem is not in the law, but in how community sees them and the general atmosphere. Extremism works against citizenship and takes away equal citizenship from Coptic Christians. Some religious scholars encourage their followers to avoid dealing with Christians as infidels or unbelievers! The statements of the national football team coach Hassan Shehata in which he stated that adherence to the Islamic religion is a basic criterion for playing in the Egyptian national team! It is true that he retracted this statement and confirmed that they were misunderstood, but indeed they reveal the real situation. The criminals who commit such sectarian incidents don’t represent the majority of Muslims, but they do reflect such rotten atmosphere that I mentioned earlier. I believe that some Coptic activists are trading on the Coptic issue and may offend the case as well as the Copts who decided to stay in Egypt. The Copts who live in Egypt may have heard some people calling them infidels whom shall go to hell, but they love Egypt above all and are willing to sacrifice their souls for their beloved country. This article was published in Al-Ahram and was republished by Ibrahim Saadah in Akhbar Al-Youm, saying I was hoping that I was the author of this article.

I highly appreciate the wisdom, prudence and self-restraint of the Egyptian political leadership and President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi when dealing with the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam during the last five years. They were faced with several challenges including Ethiopian antagonistic declarations obviously designed to draw Egypt into uncontrolled response that would be taken against it in international circles. Egypt wanted to make the situation win-win, with supporting Ethiopian development when saving the Egyptian rights in the Nile River. Egypt realized that Ethiopia only needs the dam to generate electricity and the only problem was the years of filling the dam, when the waters are indeed representing the lifeblood of Egypt’s 100 million population. While Egypt acknowledged Ethiopia’s need to fill the dam reservoir, it had a reasonable and legitimate request to negotiate the schedule of filling the reservoir, in order to reach a balance between the amounts of water withheld by the dam and the amounts flowing downstream to Sudan and Egypt. Any unbiased observer would acknowledge Egypt’s demand as a reasonable request that should have never given rise to stubborn resentment or conflict in the first place. Yet, Ethiopia had clear intention to drag Egypt into a hateful conflict, Ethiopia met Egypt’s request with argumentation and rejection, opening the door for five years of procrastination and bargaining on Ethiopia’s part that refused to the US sponsored pact with Egypt and Sudan. Therefore, I was not at all optimistic about the African virtual mini-summit that was held last month upon invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, current African Union Chief. Due to all previous situations, I doubt the results of the negotiations this time, but I hope I am wrong.

Unfortunately, I feel that Ethiopia deals with the River Nile issue as a compromising issue and neglects to recognize that River Nile for Egyptian is a non-compromised issue and it’s a matter of life or death not only for the politician leaders but also to every Egyptian. All what Egyptian needs is to secure their water in the coming centuries and to make sure that they will not suffer from thirsty in the near or the far future, however, the way Ethiopia deal with the situation show that Ethiopia is not serious and trying to delay and avoid all attempts from Egypt and Sudan to solve this problem.

Many people asked me about my expectations for the upcoming Parliament, and I told them that it will be totally different from the current one as I believe the circumstances have changed. During the current parliament elections, the state needed a member with special characteristics that helps stabilize the institutions of the state that was on the verge of collapse. Yet, the next council needs to support the path of sustainable development in Egypt through a spcial vision and abilities that contributes to and supports the sustainable development goals. Therefore, I am certain that 75% of the MPs will be replaced on the lists. Concerning the individual elections, the state needs to find a better divsion for the segments in order to enable the candidates to work on tighter scale, as the bigger scale needs more orgization and money which is only availabe for the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist currents. Finally, I wish the elections will be postponed since we need unity during such hard times, and the elections will increase division.

Perhaps there are few positive aspects of the Corona pandemic such as highlighting the importance Scientific research in general, and especially in the field of health. In this regard, no one denies that universities in Egypt have played a wonderful role in building the national cultural identity of the Egyptian personality. People considered universities as holy places like houses of worship. Now, after several decades, we need to ensure the moral responsibility of the professors and encourage them to increase research, thinking and practice democracy inside the campus and present a good model for the students. Among the funny stories that our Arab history celebrates in this context, is what happened to Mrs. Zubaydah, wife of Harun al-Rashid as she saw a large number of people gathered on the shore of the river to celebrate and welcome a scientist arriving from Baghdad, She said, indeed this the glory of knowledge and scholars. This is true since people choose to offer love for scientists and they are not forced to. The Corona virus catastrophe has alerted us to the importance of serious work in the field of scientific media to enrich scientific awareness of the Egyptian citizen.

For many years, we have never heard about any of the great Egyptians artists who used religious or moral discourse? The answer is simply because they were real artists who had real talents. Their work became masterpieces in our modern history and some of them reached international level. Thus, they didn’t need to use religion to gain the respect of their audience. This gives us hint about many artists who don’t have great talents and try to trade on religion to appear as respectable as much as he or she can. Our community has been marked by fake religious identity that doesn’t fit good art. Only great artists live through their lasting work.

President Sisi announced lately that Egypt might enter Libya and fight against Libian who are supported by Fayez El-Sarag who is also supported by Turkey. The situation is very difficult and the picture looks very complicated as there is no doubt if Sarag troops reached to “ Seert” and “ Goffra” they would represent a real threat to Sisi because if the Brotherhood was a neighbour to Egypt that might cause a lot of troubles and turmoil to the Sisi regime.

With a mighty rushing wind, and tongues as of fire appearing, the gathered disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. This was a new birth of the church and it became a feast to celebrate each year. On that day, the evangelism spread to the whole world. His Holiness Pope Tawadros II in his article titled Pentecost, talked about the importance of the Holy Spriti for the Church. Thus, we pray saying: O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, who is present in all places and fills all, the treasury of good things and the Life‑Giver, graciously come, and dwell in us and purify us from all defilement, O Good One, and save our souls. The speech of St. Paul on that day was translated by the Holy Spirit and gave it power to make great effect in the people. The same power supported the apostles who spread the evangelism all over the world. With the Holy Spirit we received many things: First, the spirit of truth and knowledge that gave a simple fisherman the power to make thousands of people believe. Second, the spirit of comfort against all concerns and problems, and thus it called the Comforter. Third, the Spirit of Unity as Jesus Christ called us to be one in faith. The Holy Spirit also gives us this unity in the mystery of marriage. As for the fruits of the soul, it was said of them: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness As the Church is fasting the Apostles, it trains us to renew the spirit in our hearts and put our trust in this almighty God. Let s pray to receive the Holy Spirit and gain its joyful fruits.

President Al-Sisi said in his recent speech that the Egyptian army is one of the most powerful armies in the region, but it is a rational army that protects and does not threaten. It is able to defend Egypt s national security inside and outside the borders of the country, Al-Sisi added. I believe his reasonable words form an important message on the international level, after converting the Renaissance Dam file to the Security Council after Egypt failed to achieve progress with Ethiopia through negotiations. Security Council can use its authority to cut diplomatic ties or impose economic or military sanctions in case it decided that the Renaissance Dam crisis threatens world peace and security. The president s speech sends also a strong message to Erdogan who is building bases in Libya and moving his forces to the capital, Tripoli. The message: Egypt is able to protect its borders and that Egypt s and Libya s security is the same. In fact, Egypt is facing several wars on its western borders, as well as the eastern border, and the southern border. This mission is one of the most sacred for the Egyptian army. There are also some internal wars against rumors, terrorism, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Not to mention the development projects everywhere in Egypt. Therefore, we need to realize the danger of the situation and to support our country as much as possible.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that Egypt has the right of international legitimacy at this point, based on the United Nations Charter, to militarily intervene in the Libyan crisis.This came during a televised speech at the Western Military Zone while inspecting Egypt s air force and commando units stationed in the Sidi Barrani air base. I wonder why did we succeed to liberate Egyptian citizens detained in Libya by negotiation, but we failed to negotiate with Ethiopia concerning the Renaissance dam ignoring all our historic rights in the Nile River. We may have decided to use military strike in Libya since it s more closer and dangerous right now. On the other hand, Ethiopia needs months to fill the dam and cause direct harm to the Egyptians. Turkey is manipulating Libya and setting its military on its land and water threatening the Egyptian national security. We need to discuss if the military option is available with Ethiopia giving the long distance and the Israeli missile system that protects the dam. The intervention in Libya became more understood because of its necessity and legitimacy, which is understood world wide as Turkey is moving hundreds of terrorists to Libya. It also threatens Egyptian security and pride. Egypt has also relied on the Libyan parliament headed by Mr. Aqila Saleh. What about the legitimacy of military action against Ethiopia? I clearly see that reaching it is sought by Egypt through a UN Security Council resolution preventing Ethiopia from filling the dam, and this will give Egypt justification to take military action against Ethiopia that do not implement the decision of the military council. The last question, is our suffering economy because of Corona virus is able to suffer more because of a war. Will the people tolerate more increase in prices, lack of food, and losses because of several wars at the same time? I know we have to fight this war, but we need to make it quick and painful in order to avoid its negative effects.

More than twenty-eight years ago, I was introduced to Bishop Gregory of Scientific research. In 1973, I was a law student at Ain Shams, and I was responsible for bringing keynote speakers for the Coptic family in the college. His first speech to us was entitled: Lawyer and truth, in which he explained to us that Jesus Christ is the greatest lawyer and how we should follow His foot steps. Since that date, I began a friendship with the great theologian. I used to visit him every now and then to spend couple of hours discussing various subjects, including theological, legal and social topics. In the early eighties I visited him after the issuance of a ruling from the Court of Zagazig to permit polygamy for Christians. I found him a great legal and religious expert who could defend the Christian point of view. When I asked him to introduce my book The nullity of marriage and the reasons for divorce in Christian laws , he spent one month revising it and didn t revise the information only, but he fixed some grammar mistakes in the book. I knew him encouraging and motivating to participate in the national work. He encouraged me to run for parliamentary elections in Shubra and supported me to get many votes. He also was a great defender of the Coptic Orthodox Church. He was so humble, loving, simple, accurate and scientists.

It seems that Egypt is facing real challenges in many issues, Libya from one side and Ethiopia from another side, however, in my opinion, the Ethiopian issue is more serious and is a real threat to all Egyptians. We need to greet Egypt for the diplomatic efforts that have been done so far. Egypt has exhausted all means to convince Ethiopia to have agreement with Egypt and Sudan before starting in running the “ Nahda Dam”.

Everybody is hoping that September comes with a vaccine for COVID-19 according to several statements by officials in America and Egypt. Oxford confirms that it will produce more than four hundred million doses of the vaccine for Europe and America. Trump is repeatedly asking to accelerate the pace of work in the vaccine in America, while for American s good and for his own interest as the elections approaches. 120 countries announced they are reaching a vaccine, but sadly Egypt was not among them. Our country cares more about building churches and mosques as well as roads, but health scientific research and education are not yet among our priorities!

Police sometimes have to use violence when dealing with some dangerous people who may harm officers and kill them. This doesn’t justify the murder of George Floyd which revealed hateful racism inside the American society, which also exists in severel countries around the world. The peaceful demonstrations soon turned into violence that extended into the looting of shops and the burning of police headquarters and cars, which may reflect the interference of several parties like the rival Democratic Party of President Trump, Islamic organizations or even American leftist organizations. It should be noted that the four officers whom are accused of killing Floyd include Americans of white, black, Asian and Mexican backgrounds. This means they have not intended to kill the man, but the use of excessive force led to his murder.

The file of the disappearance of Christian girls has been my main concern since the late nineties of the last century until the number of disappeared girls and women reached in the late Mubarak era to approximately 1490 cases. In my first media interview in 2004, I demanded the return of two kidnapped Christian girls from Dakahlia governorate. I presented several facts that led President Mubarak to interfere and the Interior minister ordered police to find the two disappeared girls , and so was done and the girls returned home after they were kidnapped.

As the world is facing the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Thus, many preventive measures were taken everywhere including the shut down of churches and suspend of its services. Yet, Pope announced in a television interview that the Holy Synod may decide to change the way of taking communion and abolish the Mastier (the spoon used in the Coptic rituals of taking communion) Christianity is not dead, and all living things are subject to change and development. Moreover, Jesus Christ didn’t use such spoon on Maundy Thursday, and the Church doesn’t use the spoon upon delivering communion to the patients at home and hospitals. Therefore, it is normal to change things that have nothing to do with the pure Christian faith and we trust that the Holy Synod will make the right decision for the church and the congregation. In the past few years, many people try to judge the church and attack Pope Tawadros and the bishops. I we like to judge, we have to judge ourselves before judging church fathers who are already suffering a lot and are in dire need for our prayers instead.