Pope Francis visits Western Wall, Yad Vashem on final day of Mideast trip
(JNS.org) On Monday, the final day of his Mideast trip, Pope Francis visited the Western Wall and the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, among other major sites in Jerusalem.
At the Western Wall, the pope prayed by the remains of the Second Temple and left a note inside an envelope in one of the cracks between the stones. Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz said, “From this place, this holy place dedicated to you and me and millions of others worldwide, I wish to join you in asking the believers of all faiths to fight hatred and growing anti-Semitism.”
Francis met with Jerusalem Grand Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Hussein at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, urging his “Muslim brothers” to “respect and love one another as brothers and sisters.”
“May we learn to understand the suffering of others,” the pope said, Israel Hayom reported. “May no one abuse the name of God through violence.”
The pope laid a wreath at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl cemetery, where Israeli leaders and soldiers are buried, before visiting Yad Vashem. There, he laid a wreath in the “Hall of Remembrance” and kissed the hands of half a dozen Holocaust survivors.
“Never again, Lord, never again,” said Francis. “Here we are, Lord, shamed by what man, created in your own image and likeness, was capable of doing.”
Francis also visited the Hechal Shlomo Jewish Heritage Center in Jerusalem, together with Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
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Peres and Abbas accept Pope Francis offer to pray for peace at the Vatican
(JNS.org) Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accepted an invitation by Pope Francis to pray for peace at the Vatican.
“In this, the birthplace of the prince of peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with Israeli President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace,” Francis said on his Mideast trip. “I offer my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer.”
Though Peres and Abbas accepted the pope’s invitation, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office made no comment on the matter, according to The Jerusalem Post.
On his trip, the pope also condemned the shooting that killed four people on Saturday at a Jewish museum in Brussels, calling the attack a “criminal act of anti-Semitic hatred.”
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Spanish town votes to change ‘Kill Jews’ name
(JNS.org) The small Spanish village of Castrillo Matajudios, whose name translates to “Kill Jews Fort,” voted Sunday to change its name with 29 of 56 residents voting in favor, and 19 voting against the change. The rest of the residents abstained.
The second part of the town’s name was originally “Motajudios,” which means “Hill of Jews.” That name dates back to 1035, when Jews who escaped being killed at another nearby town settled on the town’s hill. Records from 1627 show that the name was then changed to “Kill Jews,” more than a century after the Spanish Inquisition, which had forced Jews to convert to Catholicism or face either execution or expulsion.
Some researchers believe that the town’s new name was invented by Jewish converts to Catholicism who wanted to make it seem that they opposed people who tried to maintain their Jewish faith. Others think the new name was simply a misspelling. The town’s official shield includes the Star of David.
A majority of the voters in the town backed reverting back to its original name, Castrillo Mota de Judios, or Hill of Jews, but no final decision has been made, reported Reuters.
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Pope Francis references ‘State of Palestine,’ makes surprise stop at security fence
(JNS.org) During his visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Sunday, Pope Francis said he hoped “all will refrain from initiatives and actions which contradict the stated desire to reach a true agreement” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“For the good of all, there is a need to intensify efforts and initiatives aimed at creating the conditions for a stable peace based on justice, on the recognition of the rights of every individual, and on mutual security,” the pope said while standing next to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Francis also mentioned good relations between the Vatican and “the State of Palestine,” and made a surprise stop at the Israeli security fence, where he prayed next to graffiti that read “Free Palestine” and “Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto.” The website Israellycool.com published photos showing that Palestinian Arabs were initially chased away by Israeli police for spraying anti-Israel graffiti on the fence, and that police erased the graffiti with white paint. But the anti-Israel messages were re-painted on the fence in time for the pope’s stop there, resulting in the controversial papal photo-op.
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Netanyahu open to unilateral moves if peace process falters
(JNS.org) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would be open to entertaining ideas of unilateral annexation of certain areas of the West Bank if the peace process fails.
“The idea of taking unilateral steps is gaining ground, from the center-left to the center-right,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Bloomberg View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg.
“Many Israelis are asking themselves if there are certain unilateral steps that could theoretically make sense,” he added.
Amos Yadlin, the former head of the Israel Defense Forces Military Intelligence Directorate, recently told JNS.org that if peace is unachievable, “moving independently to shape the borders of Israel is the better course.”
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Iranian court bans social media app Instagram
(JNS.org) An Iranian court has banned the popular photo-sharing social media app Instagram, citing privacy concerns.
Iran’s Ministry of Telecommunications received the order to block the world’s most popular app following alleged complaints that Instagram violates people’s privacy, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Instagram joins a number of popular social media apps blocked in Iran, including Facebook and Twitter. Despite the ban, a number of Iranian leaders such as President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei operate their own social media accounts on Twitter and even Instagram.
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