Tag: Jews

  • Israel-Hamas issue is beyond war, it is ‘terrorism’: Pope Francis

    Israel-Hamas issue is beyond war, it is ‘terrorism’: Pope Francis

    Pope Francis has deemed the violence stemming from the Israel and Hamas issue as “terrorism”.

    “They suffer so much and I heard how they both suffer”, he said on Wednesday after meeting with Israeli families of captives held by Hamas and Palestinians who have family in Gaza

    “Wars do this, but here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war, this is terrorism,” he added.

    The head of the Catholic Church also called everyone to pray for peace so that both sides would “not go ahead with passions, which, in the end, kill everyone”.

    Jewish groups reacts

    Jewish groups, however, have criticised Pope Francis, demanding an explanation for accusing both Hamas and Israel of “terrorism.”

    The Council of the Assembly of Italian Rabbis (ARI) issued a statement on Thursday, pointing at “Church leaders” for not condemning the Hamas attack and of “putting the aggressor and the attacked on the same plane in the name of a supposed impartiality.”

    Similarly, American Jewish Committee (AJC) posted on X (formerly Twitter):

    “Later in the day, he described the Israel-Hamas war as ‘beyond war’ as ‘terrorism.’ Hamas’ butchering and kidnapping of civilians is terrorism. Israel’s self-defense is not. Vatican, please clarify.”

    The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a US-based Jewish human rights organisation, also called on the pope “not to forget that all the loss and suffering since October 7th stems from the intolerable actions of Hamas.”

    The statement added that the responsibility of all the suffering and loss of both the families of hostages and civilians in Gaza was “on the hands of the Hamas terrorists who, on October 7th, inflicted in the most brutal way, the worst mass murder of Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany and World War II.”

    The Jerusalem Post also reports that Italian rabbis also questioned the worth of “decades of Jewish-Christian dialog” if when Jews are attacked the Vatican responds with “diplomatic acrobatics.”

  • 400 congressional staffers demand ceasefire in letter to Congress

    400 congressional staffers demand ceasefire in letter to Congress

    On Thursday, Muslim and Jewish congressional staff members in the US signed a letter demanding that Congress call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. They termed the situation “especially urgent” in view of “antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment on the rise nationwide.”

    The letter has been reportedly signed by 411 staffers, opposing the Biden administration’s approach to the Israeli assault on Palestine.

    Following the events of October 7, an Illinois man killed a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child in Chicago. Jewish and Muslims have expressed fear of increasing hate crimes.

    As the letter condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it then highlighted the “catastrophic suffering” of the Palestinians “at the hands of the Israeli government”.

    It underlined the 6,000 bombs dropped on the Gaza strip, death of more than 4,000 Palesinians, shortage of food, medicine, water, electricity etc because of Israeli blockade.

    “We have appreciated seeing nearly every Member of Congress express quick and unequivocal solidarity with the Israeli people, but we are profoundly disturbed that such shows of humanity have barely been extended to the Palestinian people. Only a fraction have called for a cease fire or at least cessation of hostilities. We believe that Palestinian civilians deserve to be remembered,mourned, and defended with the same rigor that Jewish Israelis deserve from the U.S. Congress.”the letter read.

    “As Muslims and Jews, we are tired of reliving generational fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing. We are tired of leaders pushing us to blame each other, exploiting our pain and our histories to rationalize political agendas and justify violence.”

    Previously, a US Department of State senior official had resigned after America’s assurance to provide increased military aid to Israel, saying the US-back Gaza war would consequently result in trouble for Israelis as well as Palestinians.

    Josh Paul, a director in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, published a note on social media on Wednesday that the administration of President Joe Biden was repeating the same mistakes Washington has been making for decades.

    “The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” he wrote.

    “I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer,” he said, adding that the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side” was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse”.

    Read more: US government official resigns over ‘provision of lethal arms to Israel’

  • 500 Jewish protesters arrested after demanding ceasefire inside Capitol Hill

    Protesters in the US entered the Cannon House office building on Wednesday, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

    The demonstrations, however, were intervened by the police who made several arrests.

    “Demonstrations are not allowed inside Congressional Buildings,” Capitol Police posted on X.

    “We warned the protesters to stop demonstrating and when they did not comply we began arresting them.”

    The protest was organised by the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow. The protesters demanded Congress to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

    The Biden administration is openly siding with Israel in its increased attacks on Palestinians following the October 7 attacks by Hamas. It has, so far, resulted in the killings of more than 3,300 Palestinians and injury of more than 10,000.

    “The root of violence is oppression, and we’re here to say no in our names,” Jewish Voice for Peace posted on X. “We have the power to stop the ongoing atrocities against Palestinians. We refuse to standby as the Israeli government commits genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

    JVP has reported that around 10,000 protesters gathered outside the Capitol building and 500 more went inside “to demand an end to the Israeli and U.S. government’s genocide in Gaza.”

    “I wish all the Palestinian people would see this. I wish they could see that not all of America want them to die. That they are not disposable, that they have a right to live,” said Rashida Tlaib, the only current Palestinian-American member of Congress.

    On the other hand, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene asked the U.S. Capitol Police to maintain surveillance footage and photos, police reports and arrest records from the protest.

    In a series of posts on X, Greene disapproved of the demonstrations.

  • Bawaal’s cringey comparison of Holocaust with relationships will give you second-hand embarrassment

    Bawaal’s cringey comparison of Holocaust with relationships will give you second-hand embarrassment

    After romanticizing predators and promoting Islamophobia, Bollywood thinks mirroring a toxic relationship with the traumas of the 1945 Nazi reign in Germany is what we have been missing all along.

    Starring Varun Dhawan and Jhanvi Kapoor, the film ‘Bawaal’ explores the troubles of a married couple who decide to visit all of the places in Europe that were deemed important to World War II, deciding that the battlefield would be the perfect backdrop to mirror the traumas of two elite people.

    A scene going viral on Twitter features Jhanvi’s character saying: ‘Every relationship goes through their own Auschwitz”.

    Twitter users slammed director Nitesh Tiwari for reducing a horrifying historical event to domestic spats.

    “Did they go to school or bother to watch any historical documentary?” one user wrote.

    Another clip from the film sees the couple discussing Hitler, with Jhanvi saying:

    “We all too are a little like Hitler, aren’t we? We aren’t satisfied with what we have. We want what others have.”

    Thee trailer for the film, released two weeks ago, featured a scene where Varun Dhavan looks at Hitler’s image and in the backdrop Jhanvi is saying “We’re all a bit like Hitler.”

    Responding to the accusations of ‘tone-deaf’ and ‘insensitive portrayal of a tragedy’, Tiwari spoke to The Hindustan Times about it.

    “While creating a character, you can go back and look at the events and incidents which can play an important role in the overall arc of that character and the relationship in general. It’s not just about Hitler. There are many more things that you may not have seen in the trailer. Every incident has been very carefully chosen that can have an impact on the overall arc.”

    Bawaal has been panned by critics with The Guardian giving it one star and saying it lacked in “fun, pep, humour and charm”. The Hindustan Times called it “the most insensitive film of the year.”

  • France orders shutdown of mosque for inciting hatred against Jews and homosexuals

    The government of France has decided to shut down a mosque located in the north of a country, Beauvais on Tuesday as the Imam was allegedly inciting hatred and violence.

    Government officials claim that the sermon was based on violence against non-Muslims and sexual minorities and provoking Jihad.

    The Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin took the decision to close down the mosque because the Imam “is targeting Christians, homosexuals, and Jews” in his sermons. The minister said that it is totally unacceptable to incite such hatred among people.

    Local authorities were legally bound to observe 10 days of information gathering before taking action. However, the closure of the mosque will be scheduled within two days.

    It was reported by the local newspaper that the imam recently converted to Islam this month.

    The lawyer for the association managing the mosque, Samim Bolaky filed the case to overturn the banning of the mosque which would be heard by a court within 48 hours.

    The association claimed that the Imam occasionally preached in the mosque. The suspension of the Imam and closure of the worship place was made due to his regular presence, according to the official document citing the reasons for the shutdown.

    According to the official document, the Imam allegedly called for the war against enemies of Islam and allegedly glorified heroes who protected religion against Western influencers. He also labelled non-Muslims as enemies of Islam.

    The document said, “The terrorist threat remains at a very high level” and the closure had “the aim of forestalling acts of terrorism being committed.”

    Earlier this year, France President, Emmanuel Macron announced a crackdown on religious extremism after a teacher, Samuel Paty was killed because of alleged blasphemy. He pledged that he would not compromise on the secular values of the country.

  • ‘Being raised in the lap of Jews…still continues,’ Jemima Khan lashes out at Maryam Nawaz

    ‘Being raised in the lap of Jews…still continues,’ Jemima Khan lashes out at Maryam Nawaz

    In a series of comments against the children of leaders, Jemima Khan spoke out against PML-N’s Maryam Nawaz for saying that her children were “being raised in the lap of the Jews”. She said that she left Pakistan 17 years ago, “after a decade of antisemitic attacks by the media and politicians (and weekly death threats and protests outside my house). But still it continues”.

    Her comments came after Maryam Nawaz lashed out at PM Khan for mentioning her son. Commenting on Nawaz Sharif’s grandson Junaid Safdar’s pictures of playing a polo match in London, PM Khan said, “This grandson who is playing polo in Britain […] I’ve met so many Kashmiris in London and Manchester, ask them what kind of person can play polo there.”

    “You need a lot of money to keep a horse and play polo. So tell us where this dear grandson got this money from. It’s your [the people’s] money!” he told the crowd.

    The next day, Maryam addressed his comments about her son in her speech and said, “[Junaid] is now the polo team captain and is increasing Pakistan’s respect [abroad]. [Imran] says ‘that grandson’ is going abroad and playing polo, he doesn’t even spare children,” she jibed. “He says, ‘where did he get the money to play polo’.

    “I didn’t want to bring children into it, but the way you’re talking, you’re going to get a befitting reply,” she said.

    “He’s Nawaz Sharif’s grandson, not Goldsmith’s. He’s Nawaz Sharif’s grandson, he’s not being raised in the lap of Jews,” added Maryam.

    Jemima’s reply to Maryam came after referring to an article on how politicians need to keep children out of politics.

  • President Alvi stresses that Pakistan is not against Jews or Christians

    President Alvi stresses that Pakistan is not against Jews or Christians

    President Arif Alvi on Tuesday, in an address to the Second Conference of Parliamentary Assembly of the Economic Cooperation Organization (PAECO) countries, stressed that Pakistan is against genocide, not against Jews or Christians.

    “We are against genocide. We are not against Jews or Christians, but against all oppressors of humanity,” said Alvi.

    Alvi further added that Pakistan’s stance on Israel’s violations of human rights was “not anti-Semitic, but anti-Zionist.”

    “We will raise our voices against anyone who resorts to oppression,” the president said.

    He also said that labelling the freedom movement of Palestinians and Kashmiris as “terrorism” by Israel and India was an act of viewing the countries through the “prism of prejudice”.

    The president expressed confidence that the Muslim world would join hands in giving the world a strong message on Islamophobia.

  • Gigi Hadid calls out anti-Semitic people for ‘spreading hate’

    Gigi Hadid calls out anti-Semitic people for ‘spreading hate’

    Gigi Hadid has called out anti-Semitic supporters of Palestine, calling them “hypocrites” for spreading hate towards the Jews.

    “Anti-Semitic people who are using the pro-Palestine movement as an excuse to be violent and/or hateful towards Jewish people should be ashamed of themselves,” wrote the supermodel on Instagram.

    Hadid further added: “Their actions are hypocritical to the real Free Palestine. I’ve said this before and I want to make it clear again: By speaking out for equal rights of Palestinian people, I am never condoning violence or hate against the Jewish community.”

    “It is unacceptable, especially in the name of another marginalised group,” said Gigi, adding: “Everyone the right to feel safe regardless of their religion, where they’re from,or the actions of their government.”

    Sharing another post on her account from a Palestinian, Hadid said: “If you’re pro-Palestine with anti-Semitic intentions, I’m telling you to distance yourself away from the Palestinian cause as much as possible. We don’t want your support. We will not have your ignorance bastardize our fight for equal rights and justice. Which is all in the name of humanity.”

    The supermodel further said: “Palestine is a human rights cause. If you’re using this to intimidate members of the Jewish community, who have done you no harm – then you’re defeating the purpose of our cause. And I ask you [to] stay away from us. Do not raise our flag. You are equally hurting us. Sincerely, a Palestinian.”

    When Gigi earlier extended her support towards Palestine, she had clarified that she “condemns anti-Semitism” and is not trying to kill anyone.

    Meanwhile, Gigi also rubbished fake news circulating on social media about Dior cutting ties with sister Bella Hadid for supporting the Palestinian cause.

    Meanwhile, Hadid has also been accused of anti-Semitism after the supermodel voiced support for the people of Palestine amid Israeli violence.

  • Sheheryar Munawar urges people to speak against ‘injustice’ in Palestine

    Sheheryar Munawar urges people to speak against ‘injustice’ in Palestine

    Sheheryar Munawar has urged his fans and followers to speak for the people of Palestine.

    Taking to Instagram stories, Munawar wrote: “I have never asked you anything for myself, but today I ask you not to stay quiet. To open your minds and hearts and speak for the people of Palestine. Speak against the injustice.”

    Read more – ‘Use your influence for the right thing’: Hania Aamir, Zara Noor urge people to call out violence in Palestine

    The actor urged his followers to educate themselves on the current situation in Palestine and further educate others.

    “Take some time to first educate yourselves, not only about what’s happening now in the region but what has been going on for the past 70 odd years,” he added.

    Munawar said: “And then if it feels right to you, educate those around you.”

    In another post, Sheheryar went on to say, “There are 14.7 million Jews in the world – and a total of around two billion Muslims in the world. How many narratives (films) each year do we consume on the holocaust? Now compare that to the number of films, documentaries, shows about the ethnic cleansing, genocide in Palestine? Or for that matter, what’s happening in Syria, Yemen (I could keep going but you get the point), exactly right?”

    “We need more narratives, we need media agencies to start talking, we need people to start talking,” he concluded.

    With the constant airstrikes pounded on Gaza, at least 212 Palestinians, including 61 children, have been killed since the attacks began. About 1,500 Palestinians have been wounded.

  • Imame Kaaba wants Muslims to make peace with Jews; hints at normalisation of Saudi-Israel ties

    Imame Kaaba wants Muslims to make peace with Jews; hints at normalisation of Saudi-Israel ties

    A debate is continuing on social media ever since Abdulrahman al-Sudais, the Imam of the Grand Mosque of Makkah, hinted at possible normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel during the Friday sermon.

    Imam Sudais is a senior religious leader in Saudi Arabia and is also the president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.

    In his Friday sermon, Imam Sudais spoke of peace and kindness with non-Muslims, making specific reference to Jews. He highlighted the importance of Muslims respecting other faiths and underlined several stories about interactions between Jewish people and Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

    He mentioned how the Prophet (PBUH) dealt with a Jewish neighbour who eventually converted to Islam and also advised people to remain loyal and obedient towards the leaders and authorities and to stay away from the “misguided factions and groups”.

    The Imam’s remarks about peaceful coexistence are not controversial in any way but the timing of the sermon amid geopolitical changes in the region has sparked an online debate as they came less than a month after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — a close ally of the Kingdom in the Gulf — recognised Israel, leaving questions on Saudi Arabia’s next move in this regard.

    The statements have caused unrest among Muslims on social media who blame the cleric for exploiting the platform of Islam’s holiest mosque to make ground for the Saudi government.

    Here’s what Twitterati have to say about it:

    While one user said that the sermon was against Imam Sudais’ traditional stance on the Al-Aqsa Mosque, another one shared the videos of two contrasting sermons of the Imam — one, in which he calls to save Al-Aqsa Mosque from the abomination of aggressors, and the second, which prepares the ground for acceptance of Israel.

    https://twitter.com/be4after/status/1302223008199774209

    Muhammad al-Mukhtar al-Shinqiti, a Mauritanian author, saw the sermon as a misuse of the Grand Mosque to promote normalisation and call for the obedience of the “murderous rulers”.

    Have anything to add to this story? Let The Current know in the comments below.