Are Middle East Protests Example of 'Violent Christophobia?'

Many Christians believe Egyptian violence against Christian protesters over the weekend is an example of an apparent broader anti-Christian trend in the Muslim world.
Last week's conflict between Muslims and Christians left 12 dead, 220 injured and 2 Churches ablaze, according to The New York Times.
For some, these attacks and others contradicted Boutros Boutros Ghali's claim in the Wall Street Journal that Egypt is "known for tolerance." Egyptian Christians are crying for help, says NewsRealBlog's Moshe Phillips.
These cries are not new from Christian communities within the Muslim world. "The number of attacks on Christian communities rose worldwide in 2010," according to a report by the Council of European Parliamentary Assembly.
And 2011 is on pace to top 2010, says TheReligionofPeace.com. Accordingly, the CEO of Christian Solidarity International, John Eibner, wrote in an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe that "it is conceivable that, within a generation, strong, viable Christian communities will cease to exist in the region of Christianity's birth." Eibner described the growing problem as one of "violent Christophobia."
Despite what the Christian Post called the continued persecution against Christian groups in the Islamic world, sounding the global alarm may not be the right idea just yet, says CNN's Michael Wahid Hanna.
"Egyptian Christians and their brethren in the international Coptic diaspora should refrain from launching incendiary calls for international protection," Hanna writes. "Such calls only further inflame communal tensions and fuel warped narratives about Copts as a lurking fifth column within the body politic."
After Saturday's attacks the Pope Shenouda III, leader of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, instructed Christians to cease their sit-ins and protests, reports the website OnIslam.net.
Whatever happens moving forward, Catholic News Service's Simon Caldwell said Egyptian police should move faster to thwart future violence against Christians.