"Religion of Peace": in Egypt, Muslims kill 100s of other Muslims

Islam, the self-styled "Religion of Peace", is not monolithic, any more than Christianity or the Catholic Church itself is monolithic. The two main branches or divisions of Islam are Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. The Shi'ites [Ed., please check spelling.] are the ones who dominate in Iran and Iraq, although you could get an argument about Iraq. [No kidding. Ed.] It is believed that the mad mullahs of Iran want to establish a "Shia crescent" all the way from their country through Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean.

The Sunnis are the other ones, a persecuted minority (?) in Iraq, but the dominant group in most of the Gulf States and, most dangerously, Saudi Arabia. Extremist Sunnis are the core of ISIS. As Junior Trudeau, who loves all Muslims, says, "Sunni ways, my friends. Sunni ways."

There are others, like Sufists or Sufi Muslims. Non-Muslims often mistake Sufism as a sect of Islam. Sufism is more accurately described as an aspect or dimension of Islam. Sufi orders (Tariqas) can be found in Sunni, Shia and other Islamic groups. Sufism is often defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the inward dimension of Islam", or "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", not unlike the "charismatics" of both Protestant and Catholic Christianity. Although the overwhelming majority of Sufis are adherents of Sunni Islam, there strands of Sufi practice can also be found within Shia Muslim communities.

There are fewer Sufis today than there were yesterday, in Egypt, where officials are investigating the massacre of 305 (and counting) worshippers at a Sufi mosque in the town of Bir al-Abed, in the Sinai. Witnesses say the attackers were carrying the flag of the Islamic State (ISIS) and (of course) yelling "Allahu akbar!"

They bombed the Al-Rawda mosque, driving survivors outside where dozens of gunmen opened fire on those trying to escape. The assailants reportedly set parked vehicles parked in the vicinity on fire to block off access to the building, and fired on ambulances trying to help victims. Thirty children are among the dead and more than 100 people were wounded.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to respond with "the utmost force", and the Egyptian military says it has already conducted air strikes on terrorist targets. Egyptian security forces have for years been fighting an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula, and militants affiliated with ISIS have been behind scores of deadly attacks in the desert region. "What is happening is an attempt to stop us from our efforts in the fight against terrorism," Mr Sisi said in a televised address. "The armed forces and the police will avenge our martyrs and restore security and stability with the utmost force."

And so the Islamic civil war continues. Walt wonders why we are investing financial and human resources in trying to bring peace (???) to that perpetually troubled part of the world, especially when we can no longer be sure which side is the right side to be backing. (See, for example, "Why the Canadian Army is 'suspending' ops in Iraq", WWW 28/10/17.) Why not just get our troops and matériel out of the sandpit, and let the Islamists duke it out? Answers on the back of a postage stamp, please, to the usual address.

There goes the neighbourhood

You may have heard that there's been a little unpleasantness in the Sinai peninsula recently. Nominally, it's part of Egypt, but the Egyptians haven't shown a lot of interest in the vast expanse of scrub and desert since their "army" was chased out of it in 1967. Suddenly, though, the Egyptian forces have been asserting themselves, ostensibly to deal with nests of Islamic militants, smugglers, terrorists and other undesirables.

An AP report from Cairo today suggests there's a bit more to the story. Seems the undesirables include 1000s of Africans, and it now appears that what the Egyptians are doing is driving them in a northeasterly direction, into Israel.

You might think that Israel, the homeland of the oppressed and dispossessed, would welcome these newcomers with open arms, much as it "welcomed" the black Jews of Ethiopia back in the 90s. You would be wrong.

Instead of giving refugees houses and cars [as the Canadians would do. Ed.], the Israeli government is sending its own troops into the Sinai to stop the migrants before they reach the ill-defined and ill-defended border. About 60,000 Africans -- most come from Sudan, South Sudan and Eritrea -- have already got through, probably at night when, if they don't smile, they can't be seen.

AP says the chosen people are worried that the influx could harm the Jewish character of their state. The Israelis didn't put it quite that way themselves. In a statement released today, the military spokesthingy's office said Israeli forces are working "to prevent the infiltration of both hostile terror elements as well as criminal smuggling."

The statement went on to say that Israeli soldiers have stopped groups several times and held them "until the arrival of Egyptian forces that took the infiltrators." They had no comment on where this took place, but Walt is guessing it wasn't Dade County.

Walt is also guessing that this news from the Sinai will not put even a temporary stop to American Jews' yammering about how African-Americans (and themselves, of course) are the victims of decades of discrimination and racism, and must be compensated. After all, America is not Israel. Why, there's no comparison!