Associated Press reported Saturday: “The Vatican said Iraqi Jews were invited to the event but did not attend, without providing further details.”
Now we know the rest of the story. And so it is clear yet again: interfaith outreach and dialogue all go one way, and result in the Christian side becoming mute about Muslim persecution of Christians, and ultimately becoming less Christian altogether, and more accepting of Islamic mores it should know better than to accept, such as deeply-rooted Islamic antisemitism. The pope didn’t dare say anything about this, because speaking out might have jeopardized his meeting with Sistani and whole visit to Iraq. So what did that visit accomplish? Nothing and less than nothing.
“Iraq Bars Jews From Pope’s Interfaith Event,” by Jules Gomes, Church Militant, March 8, 2021 (thanks to Tom):
NASSIRIYA, Iraq (ChurchMilitant.com) – Jewish leaders are slamming Pope Francis’ silence on Iraq’s anti-Semitic policies after it emerged that the Iraqi government blocked Jews from attending the pontiff’s interfaith service at the birthplace of Abraham.
A delegation of Jews was unable to attend the “Abrahamic” event even though the Vatican had invited the representatives to be present because “the Iraqi government stymied efforts for any Jews to travel to Iraq,” the Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.
Multiple Jewish sources confirmed to Church Militant the veracity of the Jerusalem Post’s report explaining that Iraq may have barred the Jewish delegation because Iraq does not officially recognize Israel and there are no relations between the two states.
Vatican Questioned for Its Silence
Freddie Dalah, an Iraqi Jew who fled Iraq for Britain years ago, asked Church Militant why “the pope, using this great opportunity, did not take the Iraqi government to task regarding the conspicuous absence of any prominent Jews as a delegation for their community?”
“The absence of Jews from the event confirms the Vatican’s historic silence when it comes to the ethnic cleansing of the Jews not only from Europe but from the Middle East as well,” Dalah observed. “Sincerely, a bit more shrewdness in managing the diplomatic situation regarding the absence of the Jewish community would not have gone amiss.”
Speaking to Church Militant, Iraqi-born Edwin Shuker, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he “genuinely believed that the Vatican was misled by the Iraqi government into thinking that there will be a Jewish presence in Ur.”
“The Iraqi government, who intended to do so, recently changed their mind in case the Jewish delegation has links with Israel,” Shuker said, “but they could not find local Jewish representatives and ended up with a wasted opportunity.”
Shuker and his family fled to the United Kingdom in 1971 amid rising tensions, with dozens of Iraqi Jews executed on spurious charges, but regularly travels back to Iraq, working to preserve Jewish shrines and sites to maintain links between Iraq and its displaced Jewish community.
The Vatican “made it a point of telling journalists” that it had invited representatives of Iraq’s Jewish community to attend “despite the fact that Muslims violently purged the Jews from the country decades ago,” wrote Yakir Benzion.
“The Vatican didn’t bother telling the reporters why none showed up,” remarked Benzion, from United with Israel — the world’s largest pro-Israel online community.
“I am sad that the Iraqi government prevented Jews, Abraham’s children, from participating in what was meant to be a prayer for peace,” lamented well-known Rabbi Elchanan Poupko of the Rabbinical Council of America.
Asking why a rabbi was not present at the birthplace of Abraham as part of the papal event, Middle East analyst, writer and peace activist Yoni Michanie said Francis should have spoken up and also remembered the “tens of thousands of Iraqi Jews who were ethnically cleansed in the late 1940s.”
On Saturday, Church Militant reported the conspicuous absence of Jews from the Ur event, quoting Jewish anthropologist Karen Harradine, who said she found it “insulting to us Jews that we were not included by those who used the birthplace of our first patriarch, Abraham, to virtue signal and mumble meaningless platitudes about healing.”…
mortimer says
Wow! What interfaith harmony! (sarc/off)
AL BARAA (apartheid) is NORMATIVE ISLAM, rather than an aberration.
‘Baraa’ is HATRED directed towards Kafirs ‘for the sake of Allah’…Al Bughoud or Al Mu’adaat (hatred) is the opposite of Al Muwalaat (love towards Muslims). Baraa is:
– To Hate
– To keep distance from
– To be enemy to
– To desert
– To decline to help
– To disrespect
– To put down
– Not to ally with
– Not to support
Allah ordered Muslims to have Baraa (to be cleansed) from the dirty kufaar and from kufr and shirk.
-Imam Abdul-Latif ibn Abdur-Rahman Rahimullah said, “It is not possible for someone to realize Tawheed (Islamic faith) and act upon it, and yet not be HOSTILE against the mushrikeen (i.e. wrong worshippers). So anyone who isn’t HOSTILE against the mushrikeen, then it cannot be said that he acts upon Tawheed nor that he realizes it.” [ad-Durar as-Saniyyah 8/167]
There is proportionately more Jew hatred in Islam’s primary source texts than there is in Mein Kampf.
gravenimage says
Spot on, Mortimer.
Alfredo says
Mortimer is right! There is more hatred against Jews in the Qur’an than Hitler’s Mein Kampf. In Islamic eschatology the stones will denounce to the Abdallahs
“there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” Great teachings aren’t they?
The “religion of peace” teaches its adherents to ” strike them (mushrakeen) at the neck and cut off their finger tips.”
The stupidity induced by the ignorance of too many Westerners is simply incredible.
Infidel says
Don’t worry, Iraqi Jews: you didn’t miss much!
mortimer says
They missed the Dhimmi Pope’s surrender to Islam.
PRCS says
No, he did that long ago.
very old white guy says
The Pope is a pathetic little anti-Christ.
Wellington says
Assuming God exists (which this skeptic often times does doubt), and assuming Roman Catholicism is the true faith, as I as the pre-Vatican II altar boy was taught through 12 years of Catholic education (and, to be fair and grateful, which education schooled me very well in English grammar, arithmetic and higher mathematics, Latin, and most surely history and geography, as well as basic science), then why would God eff around right now, considering the deep doodoo that mankind as a whole is in as of present, by allowing a total doofus like Francis I to be elected pontifex maximus in the first place?
Conclusion: Either Roman Catholicism is not the true faith, or it is and God acts in deeply mysterious ways, or there is some other true faith (mankind is sunk if it is Islam), or there is no true faith and all religions are evidence of mankind grasping at celestial, metaphysical straws in order to provide meaning in a meaningless universe. You make the call.
john smith says
Wellington,
It stands out a mile that you are an extremely well educated person.
curious george says
There is a God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He is the One True God.. He is in total control, NOTHING happens that He doesn’t allow to happen.
He raises Kings up and He takes them down, He raises Nations up and He takes them down.
It appears that God is preparing the USA for a take down. With the 2020 election it appears that the USA has officially become a Banana Republic. God has ALLOWED Joe Biden to become President in order to facilitate the demise of the USA.
The average age of an Empire is 200 years, all Empires go through the same cycle…
From bondage to rebellion;
From rebellion to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From great courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence, and,
From dependence back to bondage.
The USA is on a fast track back to bondage.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
– Jeremiah 17:9-10
When an individual rebels against God, that is between that individual and God. When a Nation rebels against God, as we see in the USA, now that Nation will be judged by God.
Batten down the hatches, the worst is yet to come.
gravenimage says
The United States is not an empire,
curious george says
Empire
World’s leading Super Power since the end of WW II
One of the World’s great civilizations
Take your choice, the end result will be the same… the decline and fall of the USA.
The handwriting is on the wall. The inmates are now running the institution.
The build-up begins: Biden plans a Kamala Harris road show
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/03/the_buildup_begins_biden_plans_a_kamala_harris_road_show.html
This is from the Dennis Prager website.
The New Psalm
The government is my shepherd, I need not work.
It allows me to lie down on good jobs; it leadeth me
beside still factories.
It destroyeth my initiative; it leads me into paths of the
parasite for politics’ sake.
Yea, tho I walk through the valley of laziness and deficit
spending, I will fear no evil; for the government is with
me; it doles its vote getters, they comfort me.
It prepareth an economic Utopia for me by
appropriating the earnings of my grandchildren.
It filleth my head with bologna; my inefficiency runneth
over.
Surely the government shall care for me all the days of
my life, and I will dwell in a fool’s paradise forever.
Parrsboro Record, Nova Scotia in October 1950*
*sent it by a listener. original source not confirmed.
gravenimage says
I take your points, curious george–but I don’t plan on giving up yet. I doubt many thought that the US could come back from Carter–but we did.
THX 1138 says
You make your own meaning in life. You create your own purpose for living. And you go on living until you can’t. How long does an orgasm last? And yet you eagerly pursue it and joyfully accept it. How long does a delicious meal last? Ditto.
Furthermore, how can a man unable or unwilling to make the best of a mortal life be in any way prepared for an eternal one, if there is one?
“Go, eat your bread in gladness and drink your wine in joy, for your action was long ago approved by God. Let your clothes always be freshly washed and your head never lack ointment. Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted you under the sun. Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no doing, no learning, no wisdom, in the grave where you are going.” – Ecclesiastes
“Just because a pleasure doesn’t last forever doesn’t make it any less a pleasure.” – Somerset Maugham
PRCS says
Surely, we’ll see that covered on National News Programs along with an honest explanation for it, eh?
Lemme see, now; how many U.S. and coalition troops/contractors/others were injured/mangled/killed for the sake of our Iraqi allies?
gravenimage says
Good point, PRCS–American and coalition forces died for this vile antisemitic Iraq. Not what most of them signed up for, I’d reckon…
James Lincoln says
Absolutely true, gravenimage.
Rarely says
…and no one was surprised.
RichardL says
the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Good epitaph for Pope Francis. Even my monk and priest friends say: pray for him. He needs it.
gravenimage says
I don’t see how his bowing to this antimsemitism is indicative of good intentions, I’m afraid.
RichardL says
of course you do. He understands that Jews are our older brothers and sisters while allahists hate us and need more love.
gravenimage says
Iraqi government blocked Jews from attending pope’s interfaith service, Vatican silently went along
…………….
Just sickening–and then they say that the Jews “did not attend”,as though they were snubbing the Pope, instead of being kept away. Disgusting calumny.
somehistory says
The Jews were better off not having a “sharing with the demons” at the meeting.
In the days of Hezekiah, when he was sitting on the king’s throne there, in Israel, representing the Kingship of God, he foolishly showed off the valuable items in the Temple to some devil worshippers from a “friendly” nation. The guys reported back all the wonderful things to their ‘king’ and later, the Temple was destroyed and the valuable things taken away from Israel.
There is no good served by meeting with those who hate you; and especially if you pretend that they are ‘good’ and decent people who just think a little differently.
islam…like ba’al, molech, ashtoreth, ishtar, etc., is from satan the devil. satan is a demon, thinks like a demon, acts like a demon and teaches his human “children’ to do as he does.
The pope has shown his true colors…so many, many times…anyone who looks and listens, should be able to see “he’s no good, he’s no good, he’s no good, he’s just no good.” “I wanna’ say it again, he’s no good, he’s no good, he’s no good, he’s just no good.” (Sorry, Linda Ronstadt.) That is why he can freely meet with the mo slums of every sect, sit and smile and lie like satan himself.
I read that Sen. Paul and some others, including some dems, are trying to end the wars with iraq…began 30 years ago and the other one from nearly twenty years.
James Lincoln says
Yes, somehistory.
And, regarding the Pope, may also add the line:
“Now I see how you really are”…
somehistory says
Thanks for the line, J.L.
I listened to her on a live recording from ’76 last night.
Tony Naim says
When ISIS took over Mosul, they placed a huge street sign stating ROME will be next!
It surely was uplifting to see Pope Francis visiting Mosul to carry a message of peace !
Indeed, in all his speeches ,the Pope mentioned Judaism along with Islam and Christianity, when speaking of all Abrahamic faiths.
It is well known Pope Francis took a risk on his life during this visit.
Apparently , the Jewish dignitaries who were invited did not want to take that risk.
It was the Iranians who were the most pissed off by this visit. They did not take well his personal visit to Ayatollah Sistani, whom they regard as an Arab Shia competitor, especially that Sistani has a lot of respect in Washington.
Moreover, the same week, the Iranian media went ballistic on the Maronite Patriarch who is demanding the UN to declare Lebanon as a neutral state. A step that is meant to disarm Hizballa.
gravenimage says
Jews did not stay away on their own–they were *blocked* from attending.
JohnTheRevelator says
A trillion dollars wasted in the GWOT (Global War on Terror) and what has changed? Where’s the democracy Bush promised for Iraq and Afghanistan? Iraqis are still Muslims and hate Jews and no doubt the rest of us kafirs.
All we did was remove one group of Muslims from power and handed it over to another group. Like toppling Hitler but then replacing him with Goebbels.
This is what happens when people go to war, not even knowing who or what the enemy is. Thousands of dead and injured US soldiers so that Islam can continue to remain a pestilence on this planet.
But oh no, Islam is a ‘great religion’ we can’t question it or examine it or blame it for most of the evil that it generates in the world. We’ll just keep pretending it’s not a problem while wasting blood and treasure on pointless causes.
Let’s not forget that Muslims are aggressively influencing elections in western nations by demonizing those that recognize that Islam is a danger to us. This is why Biden has so many Muslim staffers and why the Dems sympathize with our enemies.
Either we should convert Islamic states into secular-democratic nations like our own, or we shut the door on the Islamic world and send the Muslims back. We need to stop being their slaves and fighting their wars with our money and military.
James Lincoln says
JohnTheRevelator says,
“Either we should convert Islamic states into secular-democratic nations like our own, or we shut the door on the Islamic world and send the Muslims back.”
I would support the latter – much cheaper and more effective…
Huh!?! says
So what did that visit accomplish? Nothing and less than nothing.
___________________________________________________________________
My personal suspicion is this Pope is opening the door for the false prophet told of in the Holy Bible.
Del says
This pope has chased tens of thousands away from the Catholic Church. He is the Christian version of Biden. Brain dead and living in his own little imaginary world, much like Trudeau.