The Church has categorically rejected claims that a large numbers of Copts are immigrating to Israel, or that it is Church policy to encourage migration there. This comes after news that some Egyptian Copts have migrated to Israel to escape religious persecution in Egypt. The Church rejects what it calls attempts to distort the image of Egyptian Christians. Dr. Samīr Ghattās, director of the Maqdis Centre for Political Studies, claims that these allegations are part of a systematic campaign to discredit Coptic Egyptians, and points to the decision by the late Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III to forbid visiting occupied Jerusalem. He says that the Copts will never accept displacement from Egypt to another country (Mājī Jamāl, al-Sabāh, Apr. 8, p. 2). Read original text in Arabic.