MWL Chief: Holocaust Atrocities Shook Humanity to Its Core

Muslim World League Chief Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, Asharq Al-Awsat
Muslim World League Chief Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, Asharq Al-Awsat
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MWL Chief: Holocaust Atrocities Shook Humanity to Its Core

Muslim World League Chief Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, Asharq Al-Awsat
Muslim World League Chief Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa, Asharq Al-Awsat

Secretary-General of the Muslim World League Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al-Issa labeled the Holocaust a Nazi crime that shook humanity in depth and resulted in atrocities that no fair, loving and just person can deny.

In a letter on the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Issa expressed “great sympathy with the victims of the Holocaust, an incident that shook humanity to the core, and created an event whose horrors could not be denied or underrated by any fair-minded or peace-loving person.”

Islam protects the innocent, and holds accountable anyone who attacks or kills a single innocent soul, he added.

It is among Islamic teachings that whoever kills a single innocent human is as if they killed all of humanity.

Adel al-Harbi, MWL general media supervisor, said that the group's participation in this international gathering confirms that "the Holocaust is a crime against humanity." It is wrong to justify its despicable act or to minimize it as a crime committed by Nazism against humanity.

Harbi noted that the MWL does form its view based on political dimensions but rather “on the basis of what is legitimate moderate and logical.”

He revisited the horror of the Nazi crimes race or religion, making it impossible to be justified under whatever pretexts or interpretations.

The MWL seeks in its global initiatives and dialogues to show the true message of Islam against extremism and to propagate the moderate values that Allah wants for the world, added Harbi.

Issa added that “this human tragedy perpetrated by evil Nazism won’t be forgotten by history, or meet the approval of anyone, except criminal Nazis or their genre. True Islam is against these crimes. It classifies them in the highest degree of penal sanctions and among the worst human atrocities ever. One would ask, who in his right mind would accept, sympathize, or even diminish the extent of this brutal crime?”

Issa carried on saying that the MWL considers “any denial of the Holocaust or minimizing of its effect a crime to distort history and an insult to the dignity of those innocent souls who have perished. It is also an affront to us all since we share the same human soul and spiritual bonds.”

The Muslim World League is entirely independent of any political aims, tendencies, or otherwise, he stated. “It does, however, express its opinion with utter neutrality; an impartiality that doesn’t carry any political tone at all. It looks at matters and judges them without prejudice and with transparency. We do not express our views on any dimensions other than the absolute human dimension: that of innocent lives. The latter have been protected and safeguarded in Islam, which decrees that anyone who assaults and kills an innocent soul will be held accountable as if he has killed all people.”



Netanyahu will Meet Trump on Gaza on December 29, Spokesperson Says

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach to shake hands at a joint press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/ File Photo
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach to shake hands at a joint press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/ File Photo
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Netanyahu will Meet Trump on Gaza on December 29, Spokesperson Says

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach to shake hands at a joint press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/ File Photo
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reach to shake hands at a joint press conference in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/ File Photo

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet US President Donald Trump on December 29 to discuss the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire, an Israeli government spokesperson said on Monday, Reuters reported.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said that he will be discussing with Trump the second phase of a US plan to end the war in Gaza later this month. A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect in October.

Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce and wide gaps remain on key issues yet to be discussed under Trump's plan to end the war, including Hamas disarmament, the governance of post-war Gaza and the composition and mandate of an international security force in the enclave.

"The Prime Minister will meet with President Trump on Monday, December 29 they will discuss the future steps and phases and the international stabilization force of the ceasefire plan," government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said in an online briefing to reporters.

The prime minister's office said on December 1 that Trump had invited Netanyahu to the White House. Israeli media have since reported that the two leaders may meet in Florida.


Iraq Shuts Down Lukoil West Qurna 2 Field Due to Leak

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the West Qurna-2 oilfield in southern Basra, Iraq, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the West Qurna-2 oilfield in southern Basra, Iraq, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo/File Photo
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Iraq Shuts Down Lukoil West Qurna 2 Field Due to Leak

FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the West Qurna-2 oilfield in southern Basra, Iraq, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the West Qurna-2 oilfield in southern Basra, Iraq, April 17, 2017. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo/File Photo

Iraq has shut down the entire oil production at Lukoil's West Qurna 2 oilfield, one of the world's largest, due to a leak on an export pipeline, two Iraqi energy officials told Reuters on Monday.

Lukoil declared force majeure last month at West Qurna 2 as it was hit with sanctions alongside Rosneft as part of US President Donald Trump's push to end the war in Ukraine.

The field, with output of around 460,000 barrels per day, accounts for about 0.5% of world oil supply and 9% of total output in Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer.

Lukoil's 75% operational stake in the field is its largest foreign asset.

Iraq has frequently produced above its output target agreed with OPEC and allies including Russia, known as OPEC+.

The sanctions have drawn a growing list of potential bidders for Lukoil's global assets that includes oil majors.


UN Palestinian Aid Agency Says Israeli Police ‘Forcibly Entered’ Compound in Jerusalem 

Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
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UN Palestinian Aid Agency Says Israeli Police ‘Forcibly Entered’ Compound in Jerusalem 

Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Offices of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, are seen in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

Israeli police forcibly entered the compound of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem early Monday, escalating a campaign against an organization that has been banned from operating on Israeli territory.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said in a statement that “sizeable numbers” of Israeli forces including police on motorcycles, trucks and forklifts entered the compound in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and cut communications to the compound.

“The unauthorized and forceful entry by Israeli security forces is an unacceptable violation of UNRWA’s privileges and immunities as a UN agency,” the agency said.

Photos taken by an Associated Press photographer show police cars on the street and an Israeli flag planted on the compound's roof. Photos provided by UNRWA staff show a group of Israeli police officers inside the compound.

Police said in a statement they entered for a “debt-collection procedure” spearheaded by Jerusalem's municipal government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The raid was the latest action in Israel's campaign against the agency, which provides aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

The agency was established to help the estimated 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. UNRWA supporters say Israel hopes to erase the Palestinian refugee issue by dismantling the agency. Israel says the refugees should be permanently resettled outside its borders.

For more than a year of the Israel-Hamas war that began Oct. 7, 2023, UNRWA was the main lifeline for Gaza's population, which was largely reliant on aid because of humanitarian crisis unleashed by heavy Israeli bombardment and restrictions on the entry of goods.

Throughout the war, Israel has accused the agency of being infiltrated by Hamas, allegations the UN has denied. After months of mounting attacks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, Israel formally banned it from operating on its territory in January.

The US, formerly the largest donor to UNRWA, halted funding to the agency in early 2024.

UNRWA receives assistance from other agencies UNRWA has since struggled to continue its work in Gaza, with other UN agencies including WFP and UNICEF stepping in to help compensate for a gap UNRWA says is unfillable.

“If you squeeze UNRWA out, what other agency can fill that void?” said Tamara Alrifai, UNRWA’s director of external relations and communications, on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Saturday.

The agency has been excluded from US-led talks on Phase 2 of the ceasefire, she added.

UNRWA shut down its Jerusalem compound in May after far-right protesters, including at least one member of Israeli Parliament, overran its gate in view of the police. Israel’s far-right has pushed to turn the compound into a settlement and the country's housing minister said last year he had instructed the ministry to “examine how to return the area to the state of Israel and utilize it for housing.”