Does Egypt’s el-Sisi Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

◼ Egypt's President calls for a 'religious revolution' - CNN

◼ The mainstream media silence on Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s historic New Year’s speech in Cairo calling for an Islamic reformation, reported here several days ago, has finally been broken by CNN International. - Roger L. Simon/PJMedia

...Not surprisingly, CNN goes on to quote a naysayer, H. A. Hellyer of the Brookings Institute, to throw some traditional liberal water on the whole event, but to the network’s credit it concludes by reporting another surprising action by the Egyptian president:

On Tuesday, the President visited the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo to attend a Christmas mass and make a short speech. He is the first president to attend such a mass since the revolution.

“We will build our country together. We will accommodate each other. We will love each other,” el-Sisi said in that speech.

That’s pretty radical stuff in a country where many Coptic churches have been burned and Christians encouraged to flee the country. The Jewish Press has more on this story (as well as a photo of a smiling el-Sisi welcoming the Israeli ambassador in Cairo).

Sisi’s attendance at the religious service was preceded by a heavy security presence, especially due to prior attacks on Christian sites by radical Islamists.

The president congratulated Egypt’s Coptic community on the occasion of the holiday, and maintained that all Egyptians are as “one hand.”

As “one hand”? New York’s Mayor DeBlasio should take lessons in graciousness from el-Sisi.

At the same time, Egypt’s stock market, up thirty percent, was the best bet of any for 2014, according to the Financial Times. Does this mean Egypt is about to turn into Denmark any time soon? Undoubtedly not. But Denmark — and a number of other European countries — may be turning into Egypt or something worse. So all is fair and el-Sisi is to be applauded.

Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize virtually for no more than being elected president — and then made a hash of everything. El-Sisi came into power by something of a coup over the Islamofascist Morsi — and then has worked hard to make peace, reign in and seal off Hamas, turn Qatar from the Islamist camp, etc., etc. — far more Nobel-worthy than anything Obama ever even dreamed of.