Andrew Doran, writing at National Review, calls the current wave of anti-Coptic violence in Egypt a Coptic version of Kristallnacht:
The Muslim Brotherhood’s systematic and coordinated attacks against
Christians in Egypt are reminiscent of Kristallnacht in Germany in 1938,
when Nazi paramilitaries systematically vandalized Jewish homes,
businesses, and synagogues and murdered scores of Jews in a disturbing
foreshadowing of the fate of European Jews over the next few years. It
is no accident that many Jews, including Barry Rubin and Jeffrey Goldberg,
have been quick to raise the alarums over the persecution of
Christians: They recognize the dangerous signs. “They have hatred in
their hearts,” says Thabet of the Brotherhood, echoing observations
commonly made of the National Socialists in 20th-century Germany.
The Brotherhood has been going on an orgy of destruction in revenge for the ouster of Mohamed Morsi. The property damage includes 40 churches and an unknown number of homes, businesses and cars belonging to Christians. In some cases the sites are marked with red paint and later burned.
Today there is a story of a group of nuns being marched “through the battle-torn streets of Cairo ‘like prisoners of war'” And as the Egyptian military attempts to quell this violence the Brotherhood manages to make itself out as the victims of violence in the media.
There have been voices in the media and in the region warning about the threat presented by the rise of the Brotherhood, but the Obama administration long ago placed all of its chips on the transformative power of political engagement with extremists. At the moment that is looking like a foolish bet.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the religious persecution of Christians, mostly at the hands of Muslims, is an ongoing problem which is rarely recognized by western media.