Think about it: why did Egypt kill the pigs?

It appears that Egypt is taking advantage of the swine flu situation to target one particular community: Coptic Christians. Coptic Christians are Egypt's largest religious minority, being about 10 percent of the population, or about 6 million out of 64 million. The rest are largely Muslim.

According to an article in The Christian Post this week, sectarian violence has been on the rise as Christian-Muslim relations have been strained by conversions to Christianity and government opposition to recognizing the conversions. Around 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million people are Coptic Christians. Egypt has the largest Christian population in the Middle East.

Tensions have been rising for Egypt's Christians. "Christian Arabs have increasingly complained of being marginalized in the Middle East, with large numbers leaving over the decades. Now it appears that pressure on these communities is spiking, whether in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan or the West Bank. In each, Christians speak of specific national behavior that has made them feel less welcome."

Then the "swine flu" (H1N1 Influenza A) hit. Egyptian officials made the immediate decision to kill all pigs in the nation, a decision directly affecting Christian farmers, and a decision that the WHO condemned. The Egypt Daily has an article in which commenters reacting to the article allege "One aspect of the debate which has emerged surrounds alleged sectarian motivations behind the cull: the vast majority of Egypt’s pig farmers are Christian." A blogger in response to the article wrote:

“Remember when the bird flu hit Egypt and the MB parliamentarians were all responsible and sober and carried out public health outreach and information to calm the hysteria about eating chicken?” ... “Turns out they are quite willing to let their religious prejudices trump their scientific judgment when the flu carriers are pigs.”

Egypt to slaughter 300,000 pigs
Egyptian authorities have begun slaughtering 300,000 pigs as a precaution against swine flu, officials said. The World Health Organization has criticized the move, saying there is no evidence pigs are transmitting swine flu to humans, the British network reported.

UN says Egypt pig cull real mistake
The United Nations has called Egypt's move to cull 400,000 pigs as a precaution against swine flu "a real mistake". ... No pigs in the country have been found with the new strain of H1N1 virus of the so-called swine flu and the World Health Organisation (WHO) says the disease cannot be caught from eating pork that is properly prepared.

Egyptian Christians riot after swine flu cull
Egyptian leaders ordered the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of pigs today to help protect against swine flu, prompting angry protests from the poor Christian farmers who feed their animals with a country's food scraps.
The Arab world's most populous nation has been been badly hit by the H5N1 bird flu virus in recent years and the move to cull up to 400,000 pigs - seen by Muslims as unclean animals - was designed to calm fears of an impending pandemic. But it left Egypt's large Coptic Christian minority up in arms, especially the slum-dwelling "Zebaleen" rubbish collectors who rely on the hogs for their livelihood.

Egypt's pig cull not a swine flu measure
The vast majority of Egyptians are Muslims and don't eat pork for religious reasons. However, about 10 per cent of Egyptians are Coptic Christians, and so are most of the pig farmers, many of whom live in Cairo slums inhabited mostly by Christian garbage collectors. The pigs feed on the garbage.

Egypt presses ahead with pig cull
Pig-farming and consumption is limited to Egypt's Christian minority, estimated at 10% of the population. The pigs will now be moved to specially prepared slaughterhouses, and armed police are on standby to prevent farmers from hiding or smuggling livestock.
The Health Ministry says the government will take advantage of the swine flu outbreak, despite the absence so far of cases in Egypt. It intends to restructure pig farming so that in future animals are not reared on rubbish tips but on proper farms.

Family vendettas between Coptic Christians and Muslims are common...but, Jesus knew that at the time of the end Christians would be persecuted, betrayed, and killed.

Matthew 10:21-22 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.