Israel Matzav

Palestinian Sheikh: All religions must convert to Islam

YNet reports from WorldNetDaily (where I have been unable to find it) that a 'Palestinian' Sheikh has accused Pope Benedict XVI of being a "puppet for that Crusader George Bush." The Sheikh, Abu Saqer, leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, which seeks to make secular Muslims more religious also said that meetings between the Pope and Muslim leaders are "Crusader conspiracies" to subjugate the Islamic faith and force "Christian-Zionist" worldviews upon Muslims, and that the only Christian-Muslim dialogue that is acceptable is one in which "all religions agree to convert to Islam."

"The call for so-called dialogue by this little racist pope is a Trojan horse with the main goal of reaching a new system in which the ideals (of Christianity) are a new ideology that will rule relations between nations and people. The dialogue he wants is dangerous," said Abu Saqer, speaking to WND from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

"The pope is the spiritual and religious wing of the Crusader ideology," Abu Saqer said. "He is totally coordinated with Bush. Through this dialogue he hopes to break the lines of unity between Muslims and polarize the Muslim world, which has some partisans who will accept this new dialogue. But true believers know Islam must rule all relations. The only dialogue we will accept is when all other religions agree to convert to Islam."

Yesterday, an organization of 56 Islamic nations yesterday pressed Benedict once again to apologize for his original comments. Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference approved a statement urging the Vatican to "retract or redress" the pope's citation of Paleologus.

In all his responses to the controversy, the pope has not directly apologized for his original statements quoting a scholar linking Muslims to violence.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:32 PM