Islam Hates Christianity > Algeria closes 90% of Protestant churches

 

Islam not only hates Christianity, but is afraid of it. Although the number of Christians in Algeria is small, Islam is terrified of the possible conversion of Muslims. It is against the law in most Muslim countries and must be so or Islam would completely disintegrate.

Algeria: 43 out of 47 Protestant churches closed,

Catholics who proselytize are liable to prosecution

JUL 16, 2024 12:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER

Somehow the celebration of diversity is only ever incumbent upon Western countries, never those of the Islamic world.

Algeria Must Guarantee Freedom of Religion & Association for All

European Centre for Law and Justice, July 2, 2024:

On July 2, 2024, the European Centre for Law and Justice organized a conference at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva to plead the cause of Algerian Christians, persecuted for their faith by the Algerian government. Speakers at the conference included the former French Ambassador to Algeria, Xavier Driencourt, the UN Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Association, and the Vice-President of the Église Protestante d’Algérie (EPA).

We also feature two exclusive interviews, one with Ambassador Xavier Driencourt and the other with Pastor Youssef Ourahmane on the situation of Christians in Algeria.

Several diplomatic missions to the United Nations showed particular interest in this cause, including representatives from Belgium, the USA, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. The conference was co-organized with the Jubilee Campaign, an NGO which also defends persecuted Christians.

In Algeria, restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly and association deprive Christians of the freedom to express and exercise their faith.

Algeria has around 144,000 Christians out of a total population of 46 million. The majority of these Christians are of Algerian nationality and have converted to Christianity in recent decades.

While the Algerian Constitution guarantees freedom of expression in principle, Algerian law criminally condemns anything that may tend to “convert a Muslim to another religion” or to “shake the faith of a Muslim.”[1] As for freedom of conscience, this was removed from the Constitution in 2020.[2]

Finally, legislation on associations and the exercise of non-Muslim religions is applied arbitrarily. The Algerian authorities no longer grant religious association status to evangelical churches. They no longer recognize their places of worship and close them down abusively.

As a result, today, forty-three of the forty-seven churches of the Protestant Church of Algeria are closed, and at least eighteen Christians are facing prison sentences[3] because of their religion. One of these Christians is the Protestant Church of Algeria’s vice-president, Pastor Youssef Ourahmane, who was sentenced on appeal on May 2, 2024, to one year in prison, six months suspended, and 100,000 dinars in fines for having celebrated an unauthorized worship service. The ECLJ rallied to his support (see the article in Le Figaro).[4] As his last resort, he is awaiting trial at the Supreme Court.

The Catholic Church, whose faithful are overwhelmingly foreign and of sub-Saharan origin, also suffers from these restrictions, which force it to maintain the utmost discretion and prevent it from openly proclaiming the Gospel. All Catholics who proselytize in any way are liable to criminal prosecution and deportation if they are not Algerian nationals. The Catholic Church was reduced to witnessing only through charity. However, since the Algerian government has imposed the closure of the Caritas Algeria organization on October 1, 2022, this is now also forbidden. Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers, has said he does not want to “come into conflict with the authorities” and wanted to “continue to do good without making noise.”[5]…

War on Christianity > Hindu Extremists Attack School as Police Watch; A Christian in Pakistan; Algeria Closing Churches

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Hindus and Muslims react violently to Christianity because they are unable to compete with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have nothing to compare with the living God of the New Testament, and certainly no answer to grace.

Hindu Extremists Attack Christian-Run School in Madhya Pradesh, India

ChristianHeadlines.com

NEW DELHI, January 3, 2022 (Morning Star News) – Incited by false information on YouTube, a mob of hundreds of Hindu extremists last month threw stones that smashed through the glass of a Christian-run school in Madhya Pradesh, India where 12th-grade students were taking critical exams, sources said.

Shouting Hindu nationalist slogans like Jai Shri Ram (Victory to Lord Ram) and Bharat Mata Ki Jai (Hail mother India), 400 to 500 people with iron rods on Dec. 6 ransacked St. Joseph School in Ganj Basoda, Vidisha District, incited by false reports that school personnel were converting Hindu students to Christianity.

The assailants broke chairs and pots, damaged vehicles and threw stones that terrorized staff members and students during mathematics testing known as board exams that are key in the course of students’ academic lives and careers.

Some of the stones landed near the classroom where 16 students were taking the exams, said Bishop of Sagar Diocese James Athikalam, whose diocese includes the area where the school is located.

“Stones had reached near the classrooms, and the exam had to be stopped and the children shifted to a safer location where they could continue their exam,” Athikalam told Morning Star News.

School Principal Antony Pynumkal said the mob formed at noon at a site five minutes away.

“They made a big noise,” Pynumkal said. “They all together pushed the gate, and the lock of the gate broke, and they came inside. They had iron rods and stones, and once inside, they started to pelt stones. All the elevations of the school structure are made of glass. Teacher vehicles were also parked here, which they vandalized as well.”

The attack followed a YouTube post by a Hindu extremist group asserting two provocative falsehoods – that eight children baptized at St. Joseph Church in Ganj Basoda on Oct. 31 were Hindus, and that they were students at St. Joseph School.

There is much more on this story on Christian Headlines:

The Harrowing Life of Being a Christian in Pakistan

Voice of the Martyrs (VoM)

Today's Pakistani Christians come from diverse faith backgrounds, including traditional and evangelical denominations. Regardless of their roots, these followers of Christ experience opposition for their Christian identity at many levels – whether it be from neighbours, local governmental leaders, members of the police, and/or federal officials.

The country's controversial blasphemy laws pose tremendous risks for those who are not Muslim. Individual business or personal disputes can result in one party accusing the other of blasphemy in order to gain an advantage. Accused Christians frequently endure lengthy periods in jail and, if convicted, may be sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment or even the death penalty.

Thankfully, there have been cases this year in which Christians were acquitted of false charges; those specifically involving Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar (June 2021) and Sajjad Masih Gill (November 2021). Unfortunately, even if ultimately proven innocent by the courts, these believers are often at increased risk of vigilante attacks by disgruntled community members who refuse to accept the validity of their acquittals. Though released from prison, these endangered believers may be required to relocate for their safety, some having to move with their families to an undisclosed location in a different country.

In Pakistan, young Christian women face the added dangers of kidnappings and forced marriages. There have been numerous accounts of young girls being abducted for this reason. Forged documents stating that these girls have "converted" to Islam are created by their captors, who either force the young women to wed the attackers or to comply with unethical monetary transactions for the purpose of future marriage. Such arrangements often result in forced labour. When taken to court, the judges frequently side with falsified birth certificates and marriage documents rather than the heartfelt pleas petitioned by distraught families longing for the rescue of these young women.

Such prayer alerts are provided to raise awareness of the need for urgent prayer on behalf of these women and other Christians encountering life-threatening situations and other forms of persecution in this strict Islamic country. To review previously posted reports covering current and past incidences of persecution in Pakistan, go to https://www.vomcanada.com/pakistan.htm.

Algeria Closing Churches and Jailing Leaders

The Voice of the Martyrs (Canada)

 

While Christianity has had a small part in Algerian society since the arrival of Islam, there is evidence of significant church growth taking place across the country. Since 2017, however, the government has carried out a concerted campaign against churches, particularly targeting the federation of Protestant churches known as the Église Protestante d'Algérie (EPA), even though it was officially recognized by the government. In July of this year, three more EPA churches were forcibly sealed after being ordered to close by the governor.

Individual Christians, including pastors, have also faced charges for practising their faith. The pastor of a church that operated a Christian bookstore, along with the manager of the store, were charged with "shaking the faith" of Muslims through the literature they had available for sale. Thankfully, their two-year sentence was later reduced on appeal to a one-year suspended sentence with a fine.

More recently, during the month of December, the president of the EPA was arrested, together with three other Christians. All four believers were charged with "practising non-Muslim rites without permission," as well as organizing an assembly in connection with an earlier rally to oppose the church closures. 

To help you pray more specifically for the church in Algeria, further information is available at https://www.vomcanada.com/algeria.htm

Algeria Orders Another Christian Church to Close as Crackdown Continues

13 months - 13 churches closed

Oran Santa Cruz Chapel in Algeria | Getty Images

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter

Yet another Christian church has been ordered to shut down in Algeria as the government’s crackdown on houses of worship continues.

The United Kingdom-based Christian persecution advocacy organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that Hope Evangelical Church in Oran city in western Algeria received a closure order issued by a local court earlier this month. 

The church is the latest in a series of churches that have received similar orders under a 2006 law requiring that all non-Muslim places of worship be authorized by a government board called the National Commission for Non-Muslim Worship. 

 “The closure of House of Hope church and the increased government pressure on Christians and other religious minorities in Algeria is a cause for concern,” CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement.

CSW, which is active in over 20 countries, reports that 13 churches in total have been shut down since last January. 

“The 2006 law is being used as a pretext to clamp down on churches in Algeria despite the fact that the commission it created is yet to meet to consider the requests it has already received,” Thomas stated. “This is manifestly unjust.”

Thomas claimed that if the commission is not willing or able to fulfill its duties under its mandate, then the government should either reconstitute the committee or repeal the 2006 law to ensure religious freedom in Algeria. 

As for Hope Evangelical Church in Oran city, Morning Star News reports that the closure order was supposed to be received last fall when other churches received their orders. However, the church’s pastor, Rachid Seighir, did not receive the order until Jan. 11 even though the order was issued on Nov. 10. 

“This official document was to be delivered by a bailiff appointed by the public prosecutor at the court of Oran [Province], but it wasn’t so,” Seighir was quoted as saying. 

Seighir explained that his lawyer took the initiative to obtain the ruling. 

The pastor said that people affected by church closure orders have just 10 days to appeal. However, he said the judge granted the church an exception because of the delay in getting the order. 

According to Seighir, the province’s then-governor in December 2017 sent the church a notice saying that the congregation was not in accordance with the 2006 law. The province gave the church three months to comply with the law and get approval from the commission that has not met. 

Although the church was closed down in February 2018, it was reopened in July 2018 under the condition that it comes into compliance with the 2006 law, according to Morning Star News. The church contends that it complies with the law because it is a member of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA).

“But we all know that these laws are only there to muzzle Christians and other religious minorities,” Seighir said.

According to International Christian Concern, most churches in Algeria are affiliated with the EPA since it was once a legally recognized umbrella group before the passing of the 2006 law. ICC called the EPA “the most secure option for Christians” because it was once approved by the government. 

Algeria ranks as the 17th worst country in the world for Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA’s 2020 World Watch List. 

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, reports that Algeria has seen a rise in “every persecution category over the last year.” The country rose five spots on the World Watch List between 2019 and 2020.

“The most visible example of persecution in 2019 was the seemingly systemic closure of Protestant churches,” an Open Doors fact sheet reads. “In some of these cases, Christians were forcibly expelled by police in the middle of church services.”

Get all the Christians out of Algeria, then the Lord can bring His judgement down upon it.

'I Didn’t Fight Against French Algeria to Accept an Algerian France': Bardot Slams Modern-Day France

Beauty gives way to wisdom

© Eric Feferberg / AFP

French actress Brigitte Bardot has spoken out against the state of her country, saying that Islamists are "practically everywhere" and that France should not resemble Algeria.

Speaking to the French weekly Valeurs Actuelles, Bardot said that France is not what it once was. "I have been brought up in honor, patriotism, love and respect for my country, and when I see what it has become, I feel desperate," she said.

The 83-year-old also said that it is "unacceptable” to see burqas become commonplace in France, and Islamists are "practically everywhere."

"I did not fight against French Algeria to accept an Algerian France, I do not touch the culture, the identity and the customs of others, let's not touch mine," Bardot said.

The former actress didn't mince her words when it came to her thoughts on the European Union either. "We have to get out of it,” she said. Bardot added that she is a supporter of right-wing National Front politician Marine Le Pen, who has also spoken out against France's membership in the EU. She went on to note her affinity for former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, who she described as a "good guy."

Born in 1934, Bardot was one of the best-known sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s. She retired from the entertainment industry in 1973, after starring in 47 films. She has established herself as an animal rights activist in recent years. She recently wrote a book, 'Répliques et Piques,' embracing a collection of quotations and aphorisms.

Algerian Underworld Helping Traffickers Smuggle Potential Terrorists into UK

© Francois Lenoir / Reuters

People traffickers were able to smuggle hundreds of illegal immigrants into Britain, including potential terrorists, with the help of counterfeit passports, Greek investigators have revealed.

Police forces in Britain and Greece seized 33 suspected members of a gang charging Iranian citizens up to £12,500 (US$15,800) for high-quality fake passports. An estimated 1,100 people used the service.

The ring, which included 24 people based in Athens and nine in Glasgow, Manchester and Northampton, was eventually smashed by the British National Crime Agency and the Greek Organized Crime Unit, with the help of Europol.

Migrants were targeted for their relative wealth and moved from Iran to Europe through Turkey and Greece.

A total of four passport forgery factories were found and dismantled in Greece – machines, large wads of cash and several fake documents were taken.

According to the Times, one of the men arrested in Greece in connection with the gang was an Algerian suspected of belonging to a terrorist group.

“There’s no concrete evidence yet but the working assumption is that an Algerian terrorist in Spain was operating with an Algerian terrorist in Greece,” a senior Greek investigator told the newspaper. He added that there were “credible suspicions” the group helped doctor documents for terrorists coming to Europe.

Another 12 suspects are still at large but are being hunted by the police. The men now awaiting charges have been described by the National Crime Agency’s Chris Hogben as “key members of a criminal network responsible for smuggling hundreds of Iranian migrants to the UK.”

Over 60,000 refugees are still stuck in Greece after countries such as Hungary closed down their borders in February.

In November, another gang was busted in Spain after smuggling 6,000 Ukrainians into Britain with false IDs.

72 ISIS Mass Graves Containing up to 15,000 Discovered in Iraq & Syria

A Yazidi mass grave in Sinjar, in Iraq© Ari Jalal / Reuters

As Islamic State retreats the true scale of its atrocities is becoming apparent. Associated Press collated existing documents and testimonies to produce the fullest picture yet – but activists say that thousands more victims buried in shallow mass graves are yet to be discovered.

The agency says it has pinpointed the exact location of 72 Islamic State mass graves – 17 of those in Syria, the rest in Iraq – which contain anything from at least 5,200 to over 15,000 victims.

The information came from AllSource, a satellite intelligence firm that has matched photos from space with eyewitness accounts, aid groups such as Yazda, which are recording the systematic slaughter, and often IS itself, which has boasted about killing hundreds of 'infidels' and 'traitors' in its own regularly-broadcast videos.

"They are beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing techniques, and they don't even try to hide it," said Sirwan Jalal, who has been appointed by Iraqi Kurds to investigate the mass burials.


Bones, suspected to belong to members of Iraq's Yazidi community, are seen in a mass grave on the outskirts of the town of Sinjar, November 30, 2015 © Ari Jalal / Reuters

The biggest documented massacre was committed in Camp Speicher in Tikrit in June 2014, when Islamic State gunned down between 1,000 and 1,700 unarmed Shiite Iraqi Air Force recruits, forcing them to shout slogans as they lay down, waiting to be executed.

Thirty-six of the perpetrators were hanged for the war crime earlier this month.

But while that location was well known, another massacre happened near Ramadi just two days earlier. AllSource looked for images of disturbed earth in the city in the northwest of Iraq – big enough to be noticeable from a satellite image – that tallied with accounts given by survivors to Human Rights Watch.

This was a testimony by a man only known as A.S., who was singled out for being a Shiite and put in a line in which each man had to shout out his number: "I was number 43. I heard them say '615,' and then one ISIS guy said, 'We're going to eat well tonight.' A man behind us asked, 'Are you ready?' Another person answered 'Yes,' and began shooting at us with a machine-gun."

A.S. told HRW that he escaped by playing dead and then sneaking out at night, among about 15 others, a common tactic among the few survivors of such large-scale massacres.

With war still ongoing, in places such as Hardan, a Kurdish area, the authorities have merely roped off the mass graves, and say there are currently no resources to excavate and document the dead.

As the bodies continue to decay, and the wind blows away the earth, revealing the still-clothed bones, locals are served a daily reminder of the horrors.

"I have lots of people I know there. Mostly friends and neighbors," Arkan Qassem, who lives in a village outside Hardan, told AP. "It's very difficult to look at them every day."

With IS counting different sects – such as Shias and Yazidis – different ethnicities – such as Kurds – and even Sunni tribes as their enemies, there are estimated to be “hundreds” of mass graves that will take years to be fully mapped, and their victims to be given a proper burial.

“This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the future in Syria,” said Ziad Awad, from The Eye of the City, a publication in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor, which is cataloguing the IS massacres.

Meanwhile, Algeria is spending $1.5bn on a spectacular mosque dedicated to the same god that ISIS worships. Oh, the insanity of it all. They don't even know they are worshiping Satan and his messenger.


The Djamaa el Djazair, or Great Mosque of Algiers

German Intel Gets over 100 Tip-offs on ISIS Militants Among Refugees

German security service BfV reportedly received more than 100 tip-offs that ISIS militants had infiltrated the country among refugees, according to a recent report. The news comes as massive nationwide anti-terror raids took place this week.

The head of the German domestic intelligence service (BfV), Hans-Georg Maassen, told a gathering of politicians that the agency had received more than 100 warnings indicating there were Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants staying in Germany as refugees, newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported Friday, without citing its sources.

However , some cases of “baseless defamation” were among those tip-offs, Maassen added, according to the newspaper.

No doubt. And most likely some militants were reported by more than one tipster.

German security services have remained on high alert since the November terror attacks in Paris which claimed the lives of more than 130 people.

Earlier this week, police and security agents all across Germany were scrambled to search for suspects allegedly planning a terror attack in the country, with Berlin seen as the most likely target. Well-known tourist attractions including Alexanderplatz train station and the Cold War-era Checkpoint Charlie could be among the targets of a possible attack, according to preliminary media reports.

On Thursday, a police special force unit raided four flats and two businesses in Berlin, detaining four men accused of allegedly having ties to Islamic State. They were suspected of being involved in planning an attack, police spokesman Martin Redlich told RT.

One of the suspects, a 49-year-old Algerian, was arrested in a three-bedroom flat in Berlin’s predominantly immigrant district of Kreuzberg. He was living there on a fake French passport, local media reported, and owned two shops nearby Alexanderplatz and Checkpoint Charlie. Redlich could not confirm the landmarks were the targets, however.

The spokesman said police had acted on a tip-off, but he provided no further details.

Similar raids also took place in the German regions of North Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony. In Berlin alone, 450 police officers were engaged in the operation, German media reported.

The main suspect was a 35-year-old Algerian man detained during Thursday’s raid in the town of Attendorn. Said to be a possible leader of an IS terrorist cell, he was also being sought by Algerian authorities over allegations he is a member of the terrorist group.

He entered Germany in autumn 2015, having traveled the so-called ‘Balkan route.’ At that time, the 35-year-old was registered in Bavaria as a refugee.

Both men had been monitored since the end of 2015, after security services had received a tip-off they might be IS infiltrators.

Another unnamed 26-year-old Algerian, who also registered as a refugee and lived in a shelter in central Hannover, is suspected by the police to be the cell’s communication agent. He is also thought to have possible ties to Belgian Islamists. He has traveled to the Molenbeek district of Brussels, known for harboring jihadists, at least once in recent weeks. Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind behind the November’s Paris attacks, was a Molenbeek resident.

Germany took in over 1.1 million refugees in 2015, and fifty-four percent of Germans believe the terror threat in the country is on the rise because of the high number of incoming migrants, according to the latest Spiegel poll.

I'm surprised it's only 54%. There is still some naivety in Germany. 

In December, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution warned:

Germany is increasingly vulnerable to security threats from the overwhelming refugee influx, new figures show. German security services say over 1,000 Islamists could commit “serious crimes,” and many Germans feel their country is now unsafe.


Around 1,100 radical Islam supporters in Germany are potentially ready to conduct attacks, the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen told MDR radio on Friday. At least 430 of those Islamists are so dangerous that "a serious crime can be expected from them at any moment."

The security chief also warned the number of Salafis who reside in Germany is increasing. “In Germany there are currently around 8,350 Salafis, their numbers have rapidly grown over the past months,” he said, as cited by the Mittelbayerische Zeitung on Friday, adding, “there were 7,900 of them in September.”

Maassen also told the newspaper that domestic intelligence had spotted at least 150 attempts by Salafis to enlist recruits in refugee hostels across Germany.

Migrant Crisis: Why Syrians do not Flee to Gulf States

Arab countries, Muslim countries, some of the richest in the world, refuse to take Muslim migrants

By Amira Fathalla
BBC Monitoring
From the section Middle East

Is there something sinister going on here?

Syrian and Afghan refugees demanded the right to travel to Germany at
Keleti (East) railway station in Budapest Getty Images

As the crisis brews over Syrian refugees trying to enter European countries, questions have been raised over why they are not heading to wealthy Gulf states closer to home.

Although those fleeing the Syrian crisis have for several years been crossing into Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey in huge numbers, entering other Arab states - especially in the Gulf - is far less straightforward.

Officially, Syrians can apply for a tourist visa or work permit in order to enter a Gulf state.

But the process is costly, and there is a widespread perception that many Gulf states have unwritten restrictions in place that make it hard for Syrians to be granted a visa in practice.

Syrian refugees standing next to tents at the UN-run Zaatari refugee camp,
north east of the Jordanian capital Amman Getty Images

Most successful cases are Syrians already in Gulf states extending their stays, or those entering because they have family there.

For those with limited means, there is the added matter of the sheer physical distance between Syria and the Gulf.

Not welcome?

This comes as part of wider obstacles facing Syrians, who are required to obtain rarely granted visas to enter almost all Arab countries.

Without a visa, Syrians are not currently allowed to enter Arab countries except for Algeria, Mauritania, Sudan and Yemen.

The relative wealth and proximity to Syria of the states has led many - in both social and as well as traditional media - to question whether these states have more of a duty than Europe towards Syrians suffering from over four years of conflict and the emergence of jihadist groups in the country.

Twitter users have posted powerful images to illustrate the plight of Syrian refugees, with photos of people drowned at sea, children being carried over barbed wire, or families sleeping rough.

A Facebook page called The Syrian Community in Denmark has shared a video showing migrants being allowed to enter Austria from Hungary, prompting one user to ask: "How did we flee from the region of our Muslim brethren, which should take more responsibility for us than a country they describe as infidels?"

Another user replied: "I swear to the Almighty God, it's the Arabs who are the infidels."

Now you're beginning to understand!

'Let them in!'

The story has also attracted the attention of regional press and political actors.

Cartoon originally published in Saudi Makkah newspaper, seen here on Twitter

The caption says, "Why don't you let them in, you discourteous people?!"

The Saudi daily Makkah Newspaper published a cartoon - widely shared on social media - that showed a man in traditional Gulf clothing looking out of a door with barbed wire around it and pointing at door with the EU flag on it.

"Why don't you let them in, you discourteous people?!" he says.

The commander of the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA), Riyad al-Asaad, retweeted an image of refugees posted by a former Kuwaiti MP, Faisal al-Muslim, who had added the comment: "Oh countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, these are innocent people and I swear they are most deserving of billions in aid and donations."

But despite the appeals from social media, Gulf states' position seems unlikely to shift in favour of Syrian refugees.

The Cayan tower (C), the world's tallest twisted tower stands at Dubai's Marina
Getty Images

In terms of employment, the trend in most Gulf states, such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE is towards relying on migrant workers from South-East Asia and the Indian subcontinent, particularly for unskilled labour.

While non-Gulf Arabs do occupy positions in skilled mid-ranking jobs, for example in education and health, they are up against a "nationalisation" drive whereby the Saudi and Kuwaiti governments in particular are seeking to prioritise the employment of locals.

Non-native residents may also struggle to create stable lives in these countries as it is near impossible to gain nationality.

In 2012, Kuwait even announced an official strategy to reduce the number of foreign workers in the emirate by a million over 10 years.

I could be getting paranoid here, but I wonder if their refusal to take Syrian refugees is a deliberate attempt to populate Europe with a flood of Muslims. In fact, I wonder if some of the unrest in so many Muslim countries is also part of the plot. Just thinking out loud.

Islamic State Gains Libya Foothold

Egypt is bombing Islamic State targets in its stronghold of Derna

The Islamic State (IS) has wreaked havoc in the Middle East, seizing vast areas of Iraq and Syria and now it is taking advantage of Libya's collapse into anarchy.

It has gained a foothold in key towns and cities in the mostly lawless North African state, prompting Egypt - seeing itself as the bulwark against Islamists in region - to launch air strikes against the group.

Last August I reported on IS in Libya, and in September I reported that IS was popping up all over the place. As limited in numbers as they are I think it will be impossible to stamp them out. There is too much money behind them and the extreme ideology is a literal adherence to the Quran. There may be ebbs and floes in the IS tide, but eventually it will become a tsunami.

After the two war-ravaged Middle Eastern states, IS has launched its most high-profile attacks in Libya, bombing an upmarket hotel in the capital, Tripoli, in January, and releasing a video earlier this month showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians it had kidnapped.

For UK-based Libyan academic, Mohamed Ahdash, the emergence of IS affiliates in Libya is not surprising.

"There is a study which shows that after Saudi Arabia, most of the fighters who went to Syria were from Libya," he told the BBC.

'Magnet for African jihadists'
Libya's UN-backed government believes the fighters are now returning, following a shift in IS thinking to promote local jihad, and are under the command of a Tunisian named Abu Talha.

A fighter of Libya's Fajr Libya group (Libyan Dawn) fires his gun during clashes
in the hill village of Kikla, southwest of Tripoli on 21 October 2014
Libya descended into anarchy after the fall of Col Gaddafi

Libya, analysts say, is an obvious target for IS - it has been chaotic since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Muhammar Gaddafi in a Nato-backed offensive in 2011.

A Libyan woman walks past the rubble of a building in the Mediterranean
 city of Sirte on 13 October 2012. The militants have built a presence in Sirte,
which was heavily bombed during the campaign to oust Gadaffi

There are currently two rivals governments, dozens of groups armed with weapons looted from the former regime's arsenal, and smugglers who roam freely across porous borders in the desert region.

Moreover, Libya is rich in oil and earlier this month, gunmen claiming to represent IS raided a French-run oil facility in al-Mabruk, south of Sirte city, killing at least 11 guards.

Libyan oil is a potentially lucrative source of funding for IS, though it will find it difficult to export it because of the foreign navies patrolling the Mediterranean coast.

Mr Ahdash says Libya has become a magnet for jihadis from other parts of Africa - especially those who fled northern Mali after a French-led military operation recaptured territory from them in 2013.

"They are under one umbrella, but they are very different and very divided. It is difficult to work out who is who," he says.

He says Islamists had a presence in Libya during Col Gaddafi's rule, but they were heavily suppressed.

The late Strongman Col Muammar Gadaffi

So it does not surprise him that they have now gained a foothold in cities like Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 revolution that overthrew Col Gaddafi, and Derna, the coastal town being targeted by Egypt's military and where the first IS affiliate emerged in October.

But what surprises him, Mr Ahdash says, is that they have secured a presence in Sirte, the birthplace of Col Gaddafi, which had been seen as hostile towards Islamists.

'Aspirational'
He says either foreign jihadists have infiltrated the city or Gaddafi loyalists, including military officers, have joined the militants, just as they did in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown by US-led forces in 2003.

"I'm worried that could happen in Libya; that there could be a marriage of interest," says Mr Ahdash, pointing out that Ahmed Gaddafi al-Dam, an influential cousin of the former ruler, has publicly hailed IS as "pure".

An image posted online by militants who claim to be part of the Islamic State
group showing them destroying statues in Derna - 1 February 2015

Nevertheless, he does not believe IS or its affiliates have a huge presence in Libya.

"Most Libyans are moderate Muslims, and they hate Daesh," Mr Ahdash told the BBC, referring to the name by which IS is known in the Arab-speaking world.

A Coptic clergyman shows a picture of a man whom he says is one of the
 Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly murdered by Islamic State (IS)
group militants in Libya. Egypt intervened after its nationals were killed.

Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer, is quoted by Foreign Policy magazine as saying that there are an estimated 1,000 to 3,000 fighters loyal to IS in Libya, many of whom acquired combat experience in Iraq and Syria.

IS-linked fighters operate in Tripoli, the south-western region of Fezzan, and the eastern region of Barqa, which includes Benghazi and Derna.

However, Thomas Joscelyn, senior editor of the Long War Journal, says that while IS has grown in Libya, its strength should not be exaggerated.

"These zones are more aspirational than they are real," Mr Joscelyn told Foreign Policy.

Even if IS control in Libya is limited to a few small areas, it still has the potential to make the country's desperate situation even worse, threatening regional stability.