Meet the Gitmo Five

Ray Hanna is the Act! for America Boston Chapter Leader and Mentor as well as a Board Member for Christians and Jews United for Israel.

Ray came to America in the late 1960s from Cairo, Egypt, with his family.  As Coptic Christians, they were a minority in Egypt where Sharia law is written into the constitution, and where Islam rules.  Their only hope of freedom of religion and escaping religious persecution was to come to America. 

Ray knows how precious Freedom is. He cherishes his Freedom.  He has never, ever taken, for granted, his right to vote.  He knows all too well that in the Middle East, “democracy” is defined as:  one man, one vote, one time.

One defining moment for Ray’s family came in 1996 when both Easter and the Muslims’ Ramadan coincided on the calendar.  In celebration, the Egyptian government issued pickled fish to everyone.  However, the Christians only were given fish that was tainted, contaminated.  Ray saw 3 family members die and 27 become hospitalized. 

Sept. 11, 2001 was the tipping point for Ray. That’s when Ray knew that Islamic jihad had come to America. Searching for an organization to join, none were to be found until 2008 when he joined ACT! for America, the largest national security grassroots movement in the U.S. that today has over 200,000 members and more than 800 chapters.  Ray has been serving as the Boston Chapter leader ever since.