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A Dutch campaign to boycott tourism to Egypt will only hurt the very Christians it claims to be helping
CAIRO, Egypt (AWR) – Earlier this month, Dutch journalist Jos van Noord wrote an article in the Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf urging a boycott of travel to Egypt and other Arab countries.
This, he says, will help put pressure on these governments to better protect Christians in places like Egypt, where he alleges that "churches are being set on fire and Christian students murdered."
"There are, indeed, many problems for Christians in Egypt," says AWR Chief Editor Cornelis Hulsman, "but these result primarily from an almost fully absent government."
Hulsman says commentators such as van Noord ignore the fact that the absence of the rule of law also creates many problems for Egyptian Muslims - problems including large-scale theft, thuggery, and a disturbing increase in armed robberies.
In fact, since the January 25th Revolution, tourism in Egypt has already suffered tremendously, to the detriment of tens of thousands of Christians - and Muslims - who rely on tourism for their livelihoods.
It is the position of the Arab West Report that one should work to promote - not boycott - tourism in Egypt, if one wants to improve the situation of Christians here.
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