Egypt threatens to refuse our jizya payments

1 Billion in your tax dollars kept here at home would help improve our situation. I encourage the Egyptian government to make the refusal official.  Whatever reason they want to use to justify their actions is fine with me, as long as our wallet slams shut as soon as possible.  No reason to keep paying our new enemy for the privilege of being hated.


From AP/Yahoo March 11 by Hamza Hendawi

Egypt parliament to consider cutting off US aid

 CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's parliament moved Sunday toward a vote to order an end to more than $1 billion in U.S. aid, a reflection of tensions with Washington over the case of Americans charged with illegal activity by their pro-democracy groups.

The U.S. was angry enough over the charges against the American workers that it threatened to cut off aid to Egypt. The measure in the Islamist-dominated Egyptian parliament, probably just symbolic, showed that there is considerable anger in Cairo over charges that U.S. pressure led to interference in the judicial process.

The 508-seat chamber also voted to start the process of a no-confidence vote in the military-backed government, a move that, if successful, could spark a political crisis with just under four months left before the military is scheduled to hand over power to a civilian administration.

The move by the People's Assembly against U.S. aid was sparked by the March 1 departure of six American defendants in a case of 43 employees of nonprofit groups accused of using illegal foreign funds to foment unrest in Egypt.

The 43 include 16 Americans, nine of whom were already outside the country when the case was referred to trial. One opted to stay behind.

The rest of the 43 are mostly Egyptians, Jordanians, Palestinians and Germans.

The U.S. threatened to cut off aid to Egypt over the issue, but the departure of the six partially eased the crisis, the worst between the two allies in 30 years.

Even if the chamber voted to reject U.S. aid, the move could amount to only a symbolic gesture, given the wide powers enjoyed by the generals, who collectively act as the presidency. They would likely veto such a measure in the name of national security.

Read it all