'Unify the Civilized World to Reject Jihad

Statement

\Earlier this month, along with my colleagues on the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs Committees, I went on a Congressional Delegation trip to the Republic of Congo and Egypt to meet with leaders in these two countries to discuss their commitment to fighting terror groups like Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and ISIS.

In Egypt, our group met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss what strategies are required to create a strong global coalition to defeat these groups. President el-Sisi is one of the strongest voices in the Arab World for reformation of Islam and ending the concept of Jihad, and it was a worthwhile experience to meet the leader of our great ally in that region.

During our brief stay in Egypt, we walked through the bazaar in Cairo on a Friday night, and I was taken with the similarities between a Friday night in the US and a Friday night in Egypt. We Americans work hard. We work hard every day of the week, and we love Friday. We love Fridays so much that we say: Thank God it's Friday. Over the years, TGIF has become not only something that everyone in our country who works hard recognizes, but it became the name of a popular restaurant.

And in Egypt, I saw that same joyous, happy experience of families sharing their successes of the week: celebrating a great soccer victory; clapping to wonderful, warm local music; and witnessing the squealing of their kids running around their parents, celebrating a birthday or just a good week at work or school.

My trip to Egypt was marked not just with witnessing the joy of Egyptian family life and seeing and sharing what we have in common. It was a reminder that the 91 million Egyptians are on the front line of the global war on terror, a war that unites the leadership of Egypt and the United States arm-in-arm to design and implement the most effective strategies we can to defeat the malevolent evil enemy of ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and their bloody cohorts across the globe.

In my view, after the approach of the past eight years, our enemies are stronger and engaged more broadly than ever before. Nothing has driven this point home more than a visit in Cairo to the St. Peter and St. Paul's Coptic Church.

Located on the plaza adjacent to the offices of His Holiness Coptic Pope Tawadros II, there was joy there last Saturday morning listening to the chants of the priests, the reverence of the families in the pews, the kids again squealing and smiling in their parents' arms.

However, on the periphery of that joy was a stark reminder of the destruction there on December 11, when a male ISIS jihadist suicide bomber entered that church disguised as a woman and detonated his vest, murdering 25, mostly women, splattering the walls and the floors of God's House with their blood.

This past weekend, news reports surfaced detailing Egypt's Coptic Christian families having to flee the North Sinai province after an increase in attacks from jihadists.

These tragedies are a reminder that whether it takes three months or 30 years, we can't rest until we unify the civilized world to reject jihad, reject the terror we saw at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Cairo and are seeing now in Sinai. We need to condemn those who condone it. We need to condemn those who finance it. We need to reject it when we see it taught in the mosque. We need to reject it on Facebook. We need to reject it in the media. We must condemn those who say it is wrong but stand silent.

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