Back in March 2000, Pope John Paul visited Israel and held an interfaith meeting. After then Chief Rabbi Lau spoke and caused a bit of an uproar by claiming that the Pope had recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Then Sheikh Tamimi got up to speak:
Things got more volatile when Tamimi welcomed the Pope, in Arabic, as “the guest of the Palestinian people on the land of Palestine, in the city of holy Jerusalem, eternal capital of Palestine,” and was met by loud applause by the audience. He went on to insist, in a rather frenzied rhetorical style, that there could be no peace in the region until all of “Palestine” was united under “President Yassir Arafat”; more applause followed. The moderator, Rabbi Alon Goshen-Gottstein, tried to save the meeting by reminding those present that they were supposed to have come “as religious people who can put aside our politics.” John Paul spoke briefly and pointedly of religion as “the enemy of exclusion and discrimination, of hatred and rivalry, of violence and conflict,” but shortly after he finished, Sheik Tamimi abruptly got up and left the meeting. It was later explained by a Vatican official that the sheik had leaned over to the Pope before departing and explained that he had a “previous engagement.” One had to wonder precisely what engagement trumped the Pope in the sheik’s mind.
Now nine years later, interfaith understanding does not seem to be Sheikh Tamimi’s strong point.
In an impromptu speech, delivered in Arabic at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge in the Palestinian Authority, launched a 10-minute tirade against the State of Israel for confiscating Palestinians’ land and carrying out war crimes against the residents of Gaza.
He also called for the immediate return of all Palestinian refugees, and called on Christians and Muslims to unite against Israel.
Tamimi invoked the name of Saladin, the Muslim sultan who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187. Tamimi said that unlike Israel, Saladin upheld the religious freedoms of all faiths.
Following the diatribe and before the meeting was officially over, the pope exited the premises. However, he shook Tamimi’s hand before walking out.
The pope, speaking before Tamimi, discussed the importance of religion and truth for the advancement of humanity’s mutual understanding.
Why was he even allowed in? Who allowed him in and why? And why didn’t everyone else get up and walk out immediately? Is Tamimi worthy of more respect than Ahmadinejad?
Or as Instapundit put it:
Hey, you can’t have meaningful dialogue with some people. So why pretend?
See Rachel Abrams, Fausta and others via memeorandum.
Late last year, another Sheikh, in this case, Sheikh Tantawi of Egypt shook hands with President Shimonn Peres of Israel at an interfaith conference sponsored by the UN. What was the result?
Top Egyptian cleric Sheikh Mohammad Sayyid Tantawi may be forced to resign for shaking hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Sheikh Mohammad Sayyid Tantawi who is the Head of Egypt’s al-Azhar University, came under fire after recent reports showed him greeting the Israeli President in a UN interfaith conference in November.
The move sparked widespread Muslim fury, prompting Egyptian politicians and media outlets to call for the cleric’s immediate resignation.
Question: Will President Obama address this intolerance when he speaks to the Muslim world from Cairo?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
