ERDOĞAN: MOBILIZE CHRISTIANS AGAINST ISRAEL
NEWS: WORLD NEWS
Pope meets Iran's envoy after call with Turkey's basilica-seizing ruler
VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoned Pope Francis Monday morning, inciting the pontiff to punish Israel for its "attacks against Palestine" by "mobilizing the Christian world and the international community."
"Israel's attacks concerned not only the Palestinians but all Muslims, all Christians and the entire humanity," Erdoğan, a leading denier of the Armenian Genocide and the prime instigator behind the Islamic takeover of the Hagia Sophia basilica, told Francis.
Turkey's Directorate of Communications reported the conversation and the Holy See Press Office spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed the phone call.
Pope Francis met Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace soon after the phone call with Erdoğan. The duo discussed Palestine, interfaith dialogue and U.S. sanctions during a "wonderful audience," Zarif disclosed on Twitter.
Erdoğan 'Ignores Genocidal Maniacs'
But Jewish anthropologist Karen Harradine told Church Militant "the attacks that Erdoğan seems so worried about come from the genocidal maniacs of Hamas (Islamic Resistance Movement), sponsored by the equally genocidal mullahs of Tehran."
"Erdoğan conveniently ignores the fact that Christians flee the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, where they are persecuted by radical Muslims, to the safety of Israel, where they are free to practice their faith," Harradine observed.
The writer and columnist also pointed out there has never been and there is no country called "Palestine" and "to keep referring to it as such is to trivialize and seek to replace the existence of the state of Israel."
False Concern for Religious Freedom?
Erdoğan, however, maintained that "occupying Israel — which prevented access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, restricted freedom of worship and massacred innocent civilians in the Palestinian lands — was also trampling on human dignity."
Refusing to call "Jerusalem" by its ancient biblical and historical name, the nationalist president referred to the Holy City by its Islamic nomenclature — Al-Quds — in his phone call with the pope.
"Israel's unlawful and inhumane practices, which also violated Al-Quds' status, must be immediately put to an end, and the entire humanity should join hands against the occupying Israel, which recklessly attacked the sacred," Erdoğan urged.
In comments to Church Militant, Islamic historian Robert Spencer emphasized that "Israel has not actually prevented access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque or Church of the Holy Sepulcher, or done anything else that Erdoğan accuses it of doing, including restricting religious freedom."
"Erdoğan's concern for religious freedom is bitterly ironic in light of his appropriation of Hagia Sophia and Chora monastery as mosques, and of Turkey's ongoing restriction of the rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the remaining Christians in the country," Spencer noted.
The distinguished historian and author of 21 books on Islam and the Middle East explained how Erdoğan would not find his actions inconsistent because of Islamic teaching that the Muslims are "the best of people, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong" (Qur'an 3:110), and non-Muslims are "the vilest of created beings" (Qur'an 98:6).
"According to Islam, 'Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are ruthless against unbelievers, merciful to one another' (Qur'an 48:29). So, Erdoğan demands for Muslims what he would never be willing to grant to non-Muslims," Spencer observed.
Francis: Not Taking Sides
Francis will not take sides on the issue, it is understood, even though he is ideologically inclined to support Muslims and naïve about the existential threat Hamas posed to Israel, as well the problem of anti-Semitism in Islamic texts.
Francis' long-standing friendship with Argentinian Rabbi Abraham Skorka since the days when he was Cdl. Jorge Bergoglio and with whom the pope co-authored the book On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, is one reason cited for the pope's apparent neutrality.
"He will try to be balanced," and will maintain a policy of "total balance" regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Skorka said in 2014, days before Francis laid a wreath at the grave of Zionism's founder, Theodor Herzl, in Jerusalem.
Further, the pope will also be cautious in supporting the Palestinian cause because the Biden administration is still inclined to support Israel.
However, while the pope's concordat for peace lies in tatters, President Trump's Abraham Accords are holding strong as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, which signed the peace treaties with Israel, are relatively silent on the Palestinian cause.
The hashtag "Palestine is not my cause" has been circulating in the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait over the weekend, as for the first time the Arab world has splintered in its anti-Israel stance.
Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to Italy Dror Eydar lashed out at Iran's foreign minister Zarif's attempts in a Facebook post to woo Pope Francis, noting that "the Middle East has been unstable for years due to your subversive meddling."
"The whole Judeo-Christian civilization is threatened by your bloody regime," Dror wrote. "Israel has no borders with Iran, nor any dispute over any possessions. Why don't you recognize Israel's right to exist? Stop spreading hate."
Hamas' 2017 document outlining its principles declares the establishment of Israel as "entirely illegal" and stresses "there shall be no recognition of the legitimacy" of Israel.
"Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious," the Hamas 1988 covenant states, citing Bukhari's hadith: "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees."
"When will the West realize that behind elegant clothes, ties and smiles hides a murderous ideology that seeks to erase all of Western civilization?" ambassador Eydar asked.
Francis: Find 'Coexistence'
In his Regina Coeli address Sunday, the pope called for an end to the violence, calling Israelis and Palestinians to "find the path of dialogue and forgiveness, to be patient builders of peace and justice," and to open up "to a common hope, to a coexistence among brothers."
Francis delivered a one-sentence non-condemnation of Islam's takeover of the world's greatest Byzantine basilica in July 2020, saying: "I think of Hagia Sophia, and I am very saddened."
The Vatican did not disclose contents of the talks in Francis' phone call with Erdoğan or the pope's audience with Zarif.
Posts
