Pope Francis Strengthens Palestinian Refusal to End Hostilities with Israel

[Gatestone Institute] [Facebook] [Twitter] [RSS] [Donate] In this mailing: - Giulio Meotti: [Pope Francis Strengthens Palestinian Refusal to End Hostilities with Israel] - Uzay Bulut: [Turkey Turns Church into Museum; Greece Builds New Mosque] - Burak Bekdil: [Turkey and Terrorists] [Pope Francis Strengthens Palestinian Refusal to End Hostilities with Israel] by Giulio Meotti • January 19, 2017 at 5:30 am - By opening the Palestinian embassy during this critical time of intensified anti-Israel animosity, was the Pope justifying the Palestinian-Arab attempt to isolate the Jewish State and to impose on it unacceptable conditions of surrender through international pressure? - Unfortunately, Pope Francis's papacy has been marked by a long list of anti-Israel gestures which did not advance the cause of peace the Pope claims to champion. - The Pope also met with Palestinian "refugees," as if the 1948 war were the source of conflict between the two peoples, instead of centuries of Muslims having displaced Christians and other non-Muslims from Persia, the Christian Byzantine Empire, North Africa, Southern Spain, and most of Eastern Europe. - The Pope called Abbas an "angel of peace". Really? An angel of peace? According to Shmuely Boteach, "Abbas spent his life murdering Jews," by financing the Munich terror attack in 1972, by inciting against Jews and by glorifying Palestinian terrorists. The Pope, in short is praising a corrupt supporter of terrorists, a torturer who has abolished any democratic process in the West Bank. - During these four years, Pope Francis has continually put significant barriers in the way of peace between Israelis and Palestinians -- a peace based on dialogue, mutual respect and the end of conflict. Instead, this supposed man of peace has strengthened Abbas's refusal to negotiate with the Jews -- the Christians' "elder brothers", as Pope John Paul II bravely called them -- and to end hostilities with them. If this is his view of Caritas, what a tragic shame. Pope Francis approaches the separation barrier near Bethlehem, May 25, 2014, on which was painted graffiti that comparing Palestinians with Jews under the Nazis: "Bethlehem looks like the Warsaw Ghetto." If it does, it only looks that way because, since the once Christian-majority city Bethlehem was transferred to total Palestinian Authority control in 1995, most of its beleaguered Christians have fled due to Muslim persecution. (Image source: Al Jazeera video screenshot) Mahmoud Abbas's activities in Rome began on January 14, with the formal opening of the Palestinian Embassy to the Vatican. The "Palestinian president," now in the twelfth year of his four-year term, then met with Pope Francis for the third time since the start of his papacy four years ago. The high-profile get-together took place in the middle of the Palestinian attempt to bypass peace talks with Israel and to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A few weeks ago, the UN Security Council, in Res. 2334, condemned Israel for its "settlements"; failed to mention any wrongdoing, such countless Palestinian stabbings and car-rammings of Israeli civilians, and the Obama Administration, which had planned and orchestrated the UN ambush, refused, for the first time in forty years, to veto the anti-Israel resolution, thereby ensuring it would pass. [Continue Reading Article] [Turkey Turns Church into Museum; Greece Builds New Mosque] by Uzay Bulut • January 19, 2017 at 4:45 am - When one talks about Christians in Turkey, one tends to think of them as migrants who moved to the area after Muslims took over or as if Muslims have always been the majority there. - The truth is Bilecik and the rest of Asia Minor, which today has a tiny, dwindling Christian minority, used to be majority-Christian lands, the great Christian-Byzantine Empire. - "The Greek community is dying, and it is not a natural death." — A Greek an in Istanbul to Helsinki Watch, 1992. - "The Greek community in Istanbul today is dwindling, elderly and frightened," Helsinki Watch reported. "Their fearfulness is related to an appalling history of pogroms and expulsions that they have suffered at the hands of the Turkish government." — Helsinki Watch, 1992. - "The conquest of Bilecik is not a random conquest of a territory. The conquest of Bilecik means the establishment of the Ottoman state. And the establishment of the Ottoman state means the beginning of a blessed march. When future generations see this project, they will understand they should be proud of their ancestors and history." — Selim Yagci, Mayor of Bilecik. - As Turks are taught to take pride in every single thing in their history -- including all of the crimes of their ancestors -- they still continue committing similar crimes. The historic Greek Hagios Georgios Church in Bilecik, Turkey. (Image source: Dik Gazete video screenshot) Turkish newspapers have recently reported that plans are underway to restore the historic Greek Hagios Georgios Church, referred to as "Aya Yorgi" in Turkish. The church will be converted into a museum and a cultural site. Osmaneli Mayor Munur Sahin said that the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, also visited the region, and said: "We re-evaluated the situation of the church. This place will never be opened to worship again. It will serve as a museum and a cultural venue. We obtained the necessary permits; we will bring movable cultural artifacts from around Osmaneli and keep them here." The restoration project, approved by the Council of Monuments, is set to be finished in two years. The church lies in ruins -- largely because the congregants were either murdered or forcibly deported during and after the 1914-1923 Greek genocide. [Continue Reading Article] [Turkey and Terrorists] by Burak Bekdil • January 19, 2017 at 4:30 am - Common sense would expect such a front-runner victim at least to have some sense of empathy for terror victims elsewhere. Right? Wrong. Not in Turkey. - Unfortunately, Erdogan's ideological attachments visibly defeat his fake rhetoric that there are no good terrorists and bad terrorists. - Unsurprisingly, Erdogan who "opposes terror regardless of the terrorist's identity, rhetoric or [religious] faith ... whoever it targets," has not condemned the latest attack in Jerusalem. - Ten statements in total condemning terror. Not a single word for the young victims of terror in Jerusalem. In a November interview, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he does not view Hamas as a terrorist organization. Pictured above: Erdogan (right) meeting with Hamas leaders Khaled Mashaal (center) and Ismail Haniyeh on June 18, 2013, in Ankara, Turkey. (Image source: Turkey Prime Minister's Press Office) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a good point when, a day after a terrorist attack in Istanbul killed 38 people on Dec. 10, he said that he condemned all terrorism in Turkey and expected that Turkey did the same when terror targeted Israel. "The fight against terrorism must be mutual," Netanyahu said. "It must be mutual in condemnation and in countermeasures, and this is what the State of Israel expects from all countries it is in contact with, including Turkey," Netanyahu said a day before Ankara and Jerusalem formally normalized their frozen diplomatic relations. Netanyahu's expectation was legitimate but not realistic, especially with Turkey. [Continue Reading Article] You are subscribed to this list as {EMAIL}. To unsubscribe, go to [ To edit your subscription options, go to [ To subscribe to the this mailing list, go to [ [Gatestone Institute] 14 East 60 St., Suite 1001, New York, NY 10022