This depressing news reeks of Jewish supremacy and would seem to indicate a slap in the face to Christians around the world.
Trump, while avowing Christianity and traditional values, allows this desecration.
Most peculiar mama!
Israeli police have prevented Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to mark Palm Sunday Mass.
The Catholic Church said on Sunday that Pizzaballa and Francesco lelpo, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, were both prevented from entering the church.
“As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” the statement said.
“This incident is a grave precedent and disregards the sensibilities of billions of people around the world, who, during this week, look to Jerusalem,” it added.
Israeli police said all holy sites in Jerusalem were closed due to safety concerns amid the United States and Israel’s war on Iran. During the Muslim month of Ramadan, which also coincided with the war, Al-Aqsa Mosque was also closed to worshippers.
In a statement to the AFP news agency, Israeli police said Pizzaballa’s request to deliver the Catholic mass to mark Palm Sunday, the beginning of the Christian Holy Week that ends with Easter, could not be approved.
“The Old City and the holy sites constitute a complex area that does not allow access for large emergency and rescue vehicles, which significantly challenges response capabilities and poses a real risk to human life in the event of a mass casualty incident,” the force said.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X that the blocking of Pizzaballa was out of “special concern for his safety” as holy sites in Jerusalem had been “repeatedly targeted” by Iran.
“There was no malicious intent whatsoever, only concern for his safety and that of his party,” the post read.
“However, given the holiness of the week leading up to Easter for the world’s Christians, Israel’s security arms are putting together a plan to enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days,” it added.
While the Catholic Church had already announced it had cancelled the traditional Palm Sunday procession, in a statement, it said Israel’s actions to ban Pizzaballa and Ielpo were a “manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure”.
“This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the status quo,” it said.
But the prevention also caused condemnation.
US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called the incident an “unfortunate overreach already having major repercussions around the world.”
Israeli police block Catholic cardinal from Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday
Al Jazeera English
Since the US and Israel launched a war on Iran, Israel has closed holy sites in Jerusalem, citing safety concerns.