Iranian hard-line newspapers said there were signs of an Israeli-US plot behind remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that linked Islam to violence and created a wave of anger across the Muslim world. The daily Jomhuri Islami said Israel and the United States — the Islamic republic’s two arch-enemies — could have dictated the comments to distract attention from the resistance of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah to Israel’s offensive on Lebanon.
“The reality is that if we do not consider Pope Benedict XVI to be ignorant of Islam, then his remarks against Islam are a dictate that the Zionists and the Americans have written (for him) and have submitted to him.”
Fellow hardline daily Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said there were signs of Israeli interference aimed at creating conflict between Islam and Christianity.
“There are many signs that show that Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks regarding the great prophet of Islam are a link in a connected chain of a Zionist-American project,” it said.
“The project, which was created and executed by the Zionist minority, aims at creating confrontation between the followers of the two great divine religions.”
In a speech in his native Germany on Tuesday, the pope spoke of a link between Islam and jihad, or “holy war”, and quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said innovations introduced by the Prophet Mohammed were “evil and inhuman”.
The pope on Saturday apologised for causing any offence to Muslims but did not retract his remarks, arguing they had been misinterpreted.
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3 Responses
The comment by the Pope was neither presented as a criticism of Islam, nor offered as representing his own opinion, but was used to illustrate the argument that religion should not be used to justify violence.
It is telling that so many disagree.
Are we to think that for Muslims religion SHOULD be used to justify violence?
Does it have some other use?
I would love to hear the details from Mr. Ayatollah whateverhisname how this plot was hatched, Let’s see:
“The Pope, the President of the U.S. and the President of Israel were sitting around a table, George Bush says…”
wait a second, this sounds like an old joke!