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Al-Azhar, Vatican Agree to Fight Extremism, Hatred

Tayeb during his meeting with the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican (Al-Azhar)
Tayeb during his meeting with the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican (Al-Azhar)
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Al-Azhar, Vatican Agree to Fight Extremism, Hatred

Tayeb during his meeting with the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican (Al-Azhar)
Tayeb during his meeting with the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican (Al-Azhar)

Al-Azhar and the Vatican have agreed to continue efforts to fight extremism and hatred, pointing to their ongoing work to ensure that love and stability prevail across the world.

This came during a meeting at Al-Azhar in Cairo on Saturday, between Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayyeb and Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot, the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and a specialist in Islamic studies.

Vatican ambassador in Egypt Archbishop Nicholas Henry attended the meeting.

“The relationship between Al-Azhar and the Vatican remains an effective and real model for spreading tolerance and peace and confronting extremism, hatred, wars and conflicts,” Tayeb said, adding that the road of peace and dialogue is full of hardships.

He added that the world is in dire need for the values of brotherhood, peaceful coexistence and respect in order to achieve stability.

In October, Al-Azhar Grand Imam and Pope Francis met on the sidelines of the meeting on climate change entitled “Faith and Science: Towards COP26 Summit.”

Many challenges require strength and determination to endure hardships and difficulties, they indicated, adding that returning to the teachings of religions is the way to save the world from extremism and division.

According to a statement by Al-Azhar on Saturday, Tayeb said that “the leaders and scholars have a religious and societal duty to confront negative phenomena, especially with regard to moral aspects.”

Al-Azhar and the Vatican will take the necessary steps and measures to implement the articles mentioned in the historic Human Fraternity Document announced by Abu Dhabi in 2019.

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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.