The Pope Pleases Muslims but Disappoints Christians and Jews

Pope Benedict XVI wrapped up his week-long “Bridge for Peace” Middle East tour leaving behind disappointed Christians and Jews but satisfied Muslims and Palestinian leaders.

Benedict XVI was not in a great hurry to visit Israel and wanted to make his trip contingent on Israel’s agreeing to turn over valuable property to the Vatican.

Israeli Christians were astonished that the pope did not visit Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), which is a center of Christian tradition. This may have been because of security concerns: police revealed Friday morning that they had specific information of attempts to interrupt the papal entourage. The 3,000 faithful who attended an open-air mass in Jerusalem were outnumbered by security forces.

Media Bias

Yad VaShem Holocaust Museum Director Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel and one of the most widely respected and popular rabbis ever to serve in that position, was openly critical of Benedict XVI. The German-born patriarch’s speech at Yad VaShem was charged with emotion but omitted specific references to Germany or the Nazi movement, of which he was a member in his youth.

The Vatican immediately defended the Pope, saying that he was an involuntary member of a Nazi squad that he left in order to enter the priesthood and the foreign media was quick in replaying this angle over and over.

However, the media, and the pope himself, played down or ignored a tirade by a Muslim cleric in the Pope’s presence, when Sheikh Tayseer al-Tamimi, a senior religious leader in the Palestinian Authority, accused Israel of "murdering women and children and destroying mosques and Palestinian cities."

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, a popular American journalist and author commented in the Washington Post, “Without debating either the accuracy of his claims or the sincerity with which al-Tami spoke, the Sheikh's behavior points to his lack of desire for peace or even reconciliation. His behavior points only to his desire to enlist the Pope in his own version of events.(...) But more disturbing than the Sheikh's boorish behavior is that this is the man the Palestinian Authority would send to this important meeting. Is this the best that they can do? Is this really the message that they want to send?”

The Pope‘s Pro-Palestinian Speech

The pope rallied behind Palestinian demands for a new Arab state in Judea and Samaria - on the land that Jordan occupied from 1948 to 1967. During that time, Jordan prohibited Christians and Jews from entering holy sites.

He implicitly backed the demand that millions of foreign Arabs be allowed to immigrate to Israel based on their being descendants of approximately 700,000 Arabs who fled the Jewish state while the Arab world fought to annihilate it in 1948.

Pope Benedict also held 'interfaith' talks with Muslims, in a sharp reversal from Vatican statements last year that ruled out theological discussions between Muslims and Christians. He took off his shoes and entered the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount the morning after Sheikh Tamimi’s harangue.

The pope stated, “One God is the infinite source of justice and mercy.” This was a reference to the Common Word appeal by Muslim scholars for a Christian-Muslim dialogue.

After noticing the echo of the Common Word appeal in Benedict’s address, journalists checked to see whether his Muslim hosts were signatories of the document. It turns out that they weren’t. In fact, the only Palestinian signed is Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi (!!!), the head of the Islamic courts in the Palestinian territories and the same cleric who railed out against Israel in the Pope's presence.