Iraqi government prevents Jews from participating in Pope’s historic trip

The Iraqi government ignored the story of Iraqi Jews during Pope Francis’ visit last week, spoiling an unprecedented visit and missing the opportunity to highlight the Jewish part of Iraq’s history. The Vatican hoped that Jews would participate in events attended by Pope Francis in Iraq, with Vatican News even noting that the Pope met with “representatives of the three Abrahamic religions in Ur of the Chaldeans in Iraq and urges Christians, Muslims and Jews to travel a path of peace under the stars of the promise that God made to Abraham. ”However, a public delegation of Jews was unable to attend the event. Iraqi-born Edwin Shuker, who visits Baghdad regularly, expressed disappointment that the Iraqi government “missed a historic opportunity to reconcile with its Jews, inviting them to attend the ceremony in Use the occasion to acknowledge and correct the injustice done to them by successive governments. ”The pope’s message was given and contrasted with the position of the Iraqi government. “As children of Abraham, Jews, Christians and Muslims, along with other believers and all people of good will, we thank you for giving us Abraham,” prayed the pope on Saturday. However, Iraqi government officials ignored the story of the Iraqi Jewish community. This was the case in Ur and also during the pope’s subsequent trip to Mosul, where a Jewish community prospered. At least half a dozen ancient synagogues have been discovered in Mosul. In comparison, the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq tends to embrace the country’s diversity, including the area’s Jewish history. The Vatican sought to include Jews not only in prayer, but also physically in interfaith meetings. It appears that the Iraqi government has impeded the efforts of any Jew to travel to Iraq, according to a well-informed source. The pope often calls for interfaith unity and sends greetings to Hanukkah. He also wrote a book with Argentine rabbi Abraham Skorka when he was a cardinal in Buenos Aires.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Jews would attend events in Iraq, but said he did not know if any rabbis would attend, according to The New York Times. Omar Mohammed, the historian behind the Mosul Eye blog, also told The Algemeiner Journal that the absence of Jews undermines the image of diversity. “Where are the Jews? They are not here, “he said.” Without recognizing the Jewish history of Iraq, without recognizing the Jewish part of Iraq, without recognizing the Jewish contributions to Iraq thousands of years ago until now … there will be no real diversity or inclusion, “he said. The pope went to Mosul in Sunday and went to the Kurdistan region. There were only a handful of Jews left in Iraq. In 2008, there were not enough men to form a minyan in Baghdad, where hundreds of thousands of Jews once lived. Jewish places in the country are in poor condition or destroyed. Sources say that in recent years, land that previously belonged to the Jewish community has been transferred to Shiite religious control. This has been the case in the fight, for example, over the Tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel. Prophet Nahum in Al-Qosh, a sanctuary that has significance for the Jewish community as well as Muslims and Christians in the city has been rehabilitated. Iraqi politicians linked to Iran regularly spread conspiracies over Israel. They have worked to make the promotion of standardization illegal since Abraham’s agreements last summer.