Israel Matzav

Vile Sheikh has done this before

'Palestinian' Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge in the Palestinian Authority, was allowed to sit on stage at an interfaith meeting on Monday night, and was allowed to unleash a vicious, uninterrupted ten-minute diatribe against Israel, at the conclusion of which a 'visibly uncomfortable' Pope Benedict shook Tamimi's hand and walked out (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

Several attempts were made by Latin Patriarch in the Holy Land Fouad Twal, a Palestinian, to politely stop Tamimi. But Tamimi would not be deterred from reading his written speech, apparently prepared in advance without the knowledge of the organizers.

When Tamimi finished, applause could be heard from a few dozen in an audience of a few hundred.

Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, responded to Tamimi's tirade by e-mail.

"The intervention of Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi was not previewed by the organizers of the interreligious meeting that took place at Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem.

"In a meeting dedicated for dialogue this intervention was a direct negation of what dialogue should be. We hope that such incident will not damage the mission of the Holy Father aiming at promoting peace and interreligious dialogue as he has clearly affirmed in many occasions in this pilgrimage.

"We hope also that interreligious dialogue in the Holy Land will not be damaged by this incident," Lombardi said.

Haifa Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, the only Jewish representative on the stage with the pope, attacked Tamimi afterwards for "cynically exploiting the media opportunity to incite and disparage the State of Israel."

Cohen, who is also the cochairman of a joint Chief Rabbinate-Holy See interreligious committee, said he would refuse to meet with Tamimi again.

Oded Weiner, director-general of the Chief Rabbinate, called Tamimi's comments "scandalous" and said the Rabbinate was cutting off all ties with him.

"This unplanned speech embarrassed and was disrespectful toward our honored guest, the pope," Weiner said immediately after the speech.

But why did they all sit through it? Why didn't they get up and walk out? And why was Tamimi allowed into the room in the first place. Debbie Schlussel slams the organizers for letting him speak and Rabbi Cohen in particular for not walking out.

And excuse me, if I don't believe Tamimi's presence onstage with the Pope at this event was a surprise to anyone. The fact is that Tamimi, about whom I've written plenty over the years, is a well-known anti-Semite and HAMAS supporter. He got his job as chief Islamic judge when his buddy, Yasser Arafat, appointed him. He openly urged Palestinians and Christians to become homicide bombers against Jews. Shame not only on the Vatican for allowing this, but on Haifa Chief Rabbi Shaar Yashuv Cohen, who also sat onstage with this scumbag. He should have his smichah [rabbinical certification] yanked for that.

Debbie slams the organizers for allowing Tamimi to speak, and believes that the Vatican did it:

Here's what probably happened. The Vatican--which is extremely open about its support for a Palestinian nation and quick to condemn Israel at every instance (though it was remarkably silent about the Jews during the Holocaust)--agreed to the Tamimi appearance, knowing full well of his well-known background. But the Vatican probably assumed or had an agreement that Tamimi wouldn't engage in his usual vitriol. Sadly, old habits die hard. And they knew better.

But it's not just Tamimi's background. JPost notes that Tamimi did the exact same thing when Pope John Paul was here in 2000:

Tamimi staged an identical verbal attack against Israel during Pope John Paul II's visit in March 2000.

Then, Tamimi called on "the occupier" to stop "strangling Jerusalem and oppressing its residents."

Citing land confiscations, house demolitions, settlements and the Baruch Goldstein massacre in Hebron in 1994, Tamimi said Israel had a long record of "genocide" and "shooting and wounding Palestinian children."

"The establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Yasser Arafat as its president and Jerusalem as its capital - this will stop the strife between the religions," Tamimi said at the time.

He also refused to shake the hand of then-chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau.

Why was he even allowed in? Who allowed him in and why? And why didn't everyone else get up and walk out immediately? Is Tamimi worthy of more respect than Ahmadinejad?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:13 AM