Jihadis in Africa are on a campaign to burn churches, behead nuns and priests, terrorize Christians and worse, and “not a peep” is being heard from those “who have the power to speak out and help protect them.”
That’s according to a report at the Middle East Research Institute, where Executive Director Steven Stalinsky has called for action, with, “On Christmas, where is the outrage?”
“Sadly, this terrorizing and slaughter of Christians outside the West has gone almost unnoticed, with no real action even by those who have the power to speak out and help protect them,” he said in a report. “These include the U.N., the African Union, the South African military, the Vatican and Pope Francis himself, even organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, or the NAACP. And not one word has been heard from Black Lives Matter, the Squad in Congress, scholars like Ta-Nehisi Coates, and many other imposters who say they care about human rights – but only do so selectively.”
He explained almost every day, ISIS affiliates around sub-Saharan Africa have reported on their ongoing persecution of Christians.
“And, as happened during the time of the Caliphate under ISIS, the Christian world is sitting by and doing nothing.”
He recalled a MEMRI study in 2023 titled, “ISIS in Africa (Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Mozambique): Targeting Christians – killing, beheading, murdering priests and nuns, burning churches, health clinics, and homes – as the world is largely silent.”
He noted, “The report detailed how ISIS’s branches in Africa – Islamic State Central African Province (ISCAP), Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Islamic State-Mozambique (ISMP) – have been attacking and terrorizing Christians across the continent, killing civilians, destroying churches, kidnapping Christians for ransom, forcing conversions, taking slaves, and destroying symbols and signs of Christianity.”
Then they are bragging, “documenting,” about their work on social media.
That report went to international bodies and legislatures, as well as religious leaders and media outlets. “Yet to date there has been little to no response or action to help the Christians being targeted, and thousands more have been killed since,” he said.
A “typical day” for Christians in Africa includes visits from ISIS and “being forced to pay the Jizyah poll tax imposed on non-Muslims.” And “choosing between conversion to Islam or death.”
Most of the attacks, including the murders of church leaders, are by ISIS, but others are by al-Qaida and others.
“These groups’ documentation and dissemination of their attacks is aimed at inspiring horror and boosting their fearsome reputation. For example, on July 11, 2024, ISIS featured, in Issue 451 of its weekly Al-Naba’ newsletter, an infographic detailing its major operations in the previous Hijri calendar year, July 19, 2023-July 7, 2024. Earlier, on July 1, A’maq News Agency, the ISIS media arm, released a poster tallying ISIS attacks worldwide in the first half of 2024. Both these publications featured sections celebrating the killing during those periods of nearly 2,000 [1920] Christians and burning of 30 churches in Mozambique and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC,” Stalinsky explained.
In just recent days, dozens of Christians have been murdered, homes have been burned, churches destroyed.
“Sometimes, Christians are offered the option of conversion. On August 8, 2024, the pro-ISIS Hadm Al-Aswar Foundation released a poster on its Telegram channel titled ‘The Only Solution for Christians,’ showing an ISIS operative removing a cross from a church roof, a hand with an index finger raised in a gesture used by ISIS to indicate Islamic monotheism, and a hand appearing to be paying the jizyah – a tax placed on non-Muslims living under Islamic rule. The poster included text from an editorial titled ‘Jihad in the Congo’ from Al-Naba’ Issue 448, in which ISIS issued an ultimatum: Christians can ‘either convert to Islam, or pay jizyah, otherwise [ISIS] will continue to execute them, burn their homes and businesses, and plunder their properties,'” the MEMRI report said.
Media outlets have been used to push the ideology that it is “ISIS” that will “save” people.
One publication said, “To the Christians, their institutions, and their community organizations searching for long-term solutions that will rid them of a life surrounded by death in every direction[:] We give them the good news that the only solution is for them is to convert to Islam, or to pay the jizyah and remain submissive. Otherwise, the invasions will continue against them, as will the killings, the burning of their homes and shops, and the seizure of their money.”
The terrorists also have boasted of beheading nearly 60 Christians in just two recent attacks alone.
Stalinsky reporte, “Not a day goes by without the MEMRI JTTM team documenting jihadi reports of attacks on African Christians.”
