On July 5, El Watan (“the nation”), one of Egypt’s most popular newspapers, published the final dialogue between General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Dr. Muhammad Morsi, which took place on Tuesday July 2, a few hours before Morsi’s final speech to the Egyptian people. A reporter who was taken to an adjacent room was allowed to witness and transcribe their conversation from a TV screen. I translate the entire speech as it appears on El Watan below:

Exchange Between Morsi and Sisi

Morsi: What’s the military’s position concerning what’s going on? Is it just going to stand by watching? Shouldn’t it protect the legitimacy?

Sisi: What legitimacy? The entire army is with the will of the people, and the overwhelming majority of people, according to documented reports, don’t want you.

Morsi: My supporters are many and they won’t be silent.

Sisi: The army will not allow anyone to destroy the nation, no matter what happens.

Morsi: What if I don’t want to leave?

Sisi: The matter is settled and no longer up to you. Try to leave with your dignity and tell those whom you call supporters to go back to their homes in order to prevent bloodshed, instead of threatening the people through them.

Morsi: But this way it will be a military coup, and America won’t leave you alone.

Sisi: The people concern us, not America. And since you’ve started to talk this way, I’ll talk to you candidly. We have evidence to condemn you and to condemn many governmental officials of compromising Egypt’s national security. The judiciary will have its say and you will all be judged before the whole people.

Morsi: Okay, can you permit me to make a few phone calls and then afterwards I’ll decide on what to do?

Sisi: You are not permitted; but we can let you check up on your family only.

Morsi: Am I imprisoned or what?

Sisi: You are under arrest from this moment.

Morsi: Don’t think the Brotherhood is going to stand by if I leave office. They will set the world on fire.

Sisi: Just let them try something and you’ll see the reaction of the army. Whoever among them wants to live in peace, he’s more than welcome; otherwise, [if they try anything] we will not leave them alone. We will not single anyone out, and the Brotherhood is from the Egyptian people, so don’t try to use them as fuel for your disgusting war. If you truly love them, leave office and let them go to their homes.

Morsi: Anyway, I’m not going, and the people outside of Egypt are all with me, and my supporters are not going.

Sisi: Anyway, I’ve advised you.

Morsi: Okay, but take care—I’m the one who hired you as minister and can remove you.

Sisi: I became minister of defense due to the military’s will and not yours—and you know this very well. Moreover, you can’t remove me; that’s it—you no longer have any legitimacy.

Morsi: Okay, if I agree to be removed, will you allow me to travel abroad and promise not to imprison me?

Sisi: I can’t offer you any promises. It’s the justice [department] that will pass its verdict.

Morsi: Okay, if that’s the case, I’ll make it war, and we’ll see who will prevail in the end.

Sisi: Naturally the people will win.

Gatestone Institute

“In scattered locations across Egypt,” wrote Morning Star News, “mobs of hard-line Muslims enraged over the deposing of the country’s Islamist president [Muhammad Morsi] this week attacked Christian homes, business[es] and church buildings and were suspected in the shooting death of a priest.”

None of this should come as a surprise. As I reported for Gatestone Institute, right at the beginning of the June 30 revolution, anonymous “letters addressed to the Copts threatened them not to join the protests, otherwise their ‘businesses, cars, homes, schools, and churches’ might ‘catch fire…. This message is being delivered with tact. But when the moment of truth comes, there will be no tact’." Several popular and influential Brotherhood leaders and supporters made the same threats, including Sheikh Essam Abdulamek , Dr. Safwat Hegazy , Dr. Wagdi Ghoneim, and Sheikh Abdullah Badr.

True to their word, now that Morsi and the Brotherhood have been ousted, Egypt’s Christians are being heavily targeted by Brotherhood supporters. On July 3rd, in a village in al-Minya in Upper Egypt, the services building of St. George Church was looted and torched. Likewise, the evangelical Saleh Church in Delga was attacked and caught fire, while the villagers, the majority of whom are Copts, had their homes and businesses looted and torched. Two Christians were injured from the fires. According to the pastor of Delga Catholic Church, who was able to escape the fire only through the roof, “supporters of former President Morsi are engaged in continuous and unprecedented harassment of Copts. He said that a number of those people broke into the homes of Christians at gunpoint, terrorizing women, children and seizing gold jewelry and furniture. He contacted security forces, pleading for help. Witnesses said security arrived next morning.”

Another Islamic mob tried to “attack the main Coptic cathedral in Qena, but the military fought them off. The group moved on to attack Christian-owned homes and businesses in the area, sources said. Also on Wednesday (July 3), a mob attacked the Church of the Holy Virgin in the coastal town of Marsa Matrouh with stones, but the military also repelled them.” “It is a miracle no one was killed in the attacks” a woman told Morning Star News.

Unfortunately the miracle did not extend to other Copts attacked by Brotherhood supporters. On July 6, Coptic Christian priest Mina Cheroubim was shot dead as he left his church in al-Arish, north Sinai—near the same area where al-Qaeda linked Brotherhood affiliates attacked and expelled Christian Copts months ago. Four more Christians were slaughtered by Muslims in Luxor province. The attack is being positioned as “collective punishment”: some Muslims accused Christians in the village of killing a Muslim, although Christians deny it, saying the Muslim was killed by another Muslim, but the mob decided to scapegoat the Copts. Dozens of Christian homes and businesses were looted and torched. Hundreds of Coptic villagers fled.

Elsewhere in Egypt, Christians are being kidnapped and held hostage for ransom money, a phenomenon that has been on the increase, particularly the targeting of Coptic children.

“This is just the beginning,” said one Coptic Christian woman from Upper Egypt who was interviewed. “They won’t be happy until they steal everything we own and kill us all. How can anyone be full of so much hate? If I took my eyes off God, I would shrink and die.”

Another Egyptian woman, incensed at the overthrow of the tyrannical Brotherhood, and like all Brotherhood supporters, scapegoating Egypt’s Christian minority, declared, “I am a religious [Muslim] Egyptian lady. I tell the Christians one word. You live by our side! We will set you on fire! We will set you on fire!”