The jizya tax is a state protection racket. This was a private-enterprise version, of which there are many in Egypt now, as this report describes. "Nag Hammadi: Muslim bandits kill two Copts. Christians live in fear of being kidnapped," from AsiaNews, January 27:
Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Two Copts, father and son, were killed yesterday in Bahgourah, a suburb of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, shot dead by a Muslim bandit, and his accomplices because they refused to pay the money demanded by the racket. Four days ago the head of the gang, Ahmed Saber, asked Moawad Asaad, a Coptic contractor for a large sum of money to enable him to continue working.Yesterday afternoon Ahmed Saber went to Asaad’s home to demand the money, the Copt refused to get into Saber’s car to speak, for fear of being kidnapped. At that point, four men came out of the car armed with machine guns and opened fire on Moawad and his son Asaad Mowad an engineer. Both were killed instantly. Their deaths have sparked the protest of thousands of Christian Copts outside the government building at Nag Hammadi, demanding protection for the Coptic community, the victim of racketeering and violence by Muslims. A sit-in is taking place in front of police headquarters, attended by four thousand people who have vowed to continue the protest until Ahmed Saber and his accomplices are arrested.
The Bishop of Nag Hammadi, Kyrollos, said since last year Ahmed Saber, well known to the police, has extorted money from members of the Coptic community, and kidnapped the children of Christians to get the ransom money. "Police have received numerous complaints about these crimes. I do not understand why they have not arrested them. I think that the police, and Muslims, are fully responsible for the situation of terror in which the Copts of Bahgourah live." The bishop called the authorities in Cairo, and the Interior Ministry demanding that protection be provided to the Copts living in the Nag Hammadi, "who are constantly subject to kidnappings and terror."
It's not rocket science to figure out why Muslim countries are generally poverty-stricken and backwards. It is part of the Muslim culture to take the property of productive people. Therefore, who would produce anything in a Muslim country?
But, Islam has a certain internal logic. The Muslim ruler cannot be declared non-Islamic for mere brutality. Therefore, the Muslim ruler, be it dictator or hereditary, rules with an iron fist and horrific methods of punishment. Since the ruler generally understands that productive non-Muslims are prime contributors to his wealth, he extends genuine protection to the non-Muslim communities.
Sounds like jizya, doesn't it? This is actually a relatively functional system, as long as you have an Islamic-style rule of the brutal strong man. It worked for the Christians of Egypt and Iraq, and the Christians and Jews of Tunisia.
The problem becomes critical when blundering giants such as the United States, works to impose democratic government in Muslim countries, without understanding in the least who they're dealing with. Democratic rule in any form in Muslim countries is death. Muslim culture has no place for concepts of justice and civic obligation in the sense that Western culture understands.
It is also suicidal to import Muslims into Western countries as immigrants. They don't change their community ethos. Given a high enough population of Muslims, the political reality changes, and it becomes difficult for police to pursue Muslim crimes very rigorously. This is why we see the huge cover-up of Muslim on non-Muslim crime in European countries.
Will Obama at least open his mouth now?
No
If the two men were gay instead of being Coptic Christians, the shooting would have received more attention by Western newspapers and activists.
But they're "just" Christians, so their plight is all but ignored.