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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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Arab World

Israeli Officials Call for West Bank to be Treated Same as Gaza

The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)
The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)
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Israeli Officials Call for West Bank to be Treated Same as Gaza

The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)
The scene of a shooting attack in the West Bank village of Funduq on January 6, 2025 (AFP)

Israeli officials have warned of changing the security situation in the West Bank, after gunmen opened fire on a bus and surrounding vehicles in the Palestinian village of Funduq, leaving several casualties.

“Anyone who follows Hamas’s path in Gaza and enables or sponsors murder and harm against Jews will pay a heavy price,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said, reacting to the attack.

On Monday, Palestinian gunmen killed three Israelis and injured several others in the shooting attack on a car and bus near the settlement of Kedumim, a major road used daily by thousands of Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel's national ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) said two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s were pronounced dead at the scene, while eight passengers were wounded including a 63-year-old male bus driver who is in serious condition.

Later, the police identified the man as an off-duty Israeli police officer, Master Sgt. Elad Yaakov Winkelstein.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to arrest the attackers and hold them accountable.

“We will find the abhorrent murderers and settle scores with them and with all those who aided them,” he said in a statement.

But Israeli far-right officials called for an all-out war in the West Bank against the Palestinians.

Israel's finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the settlement where the attack took place, said “Funduk, Nablus and Jenin should look like Jabaliya, so that Kfar Saba does not, God forbid, become Gaza.”

“I demand that the prime minister urgently convene the Cabinet today for a discussion on changing the strategy and for a real elimination of terror in Judea and Samaria,” he added.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for an end to cooperation with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

He said checkpoints must be placed and roads must be closed “(because) the settlers’ right to life outweighs PA residents’ freedom of movement.”

The minister added that Israel should stop believing it has a partner in the PA.

Settlement officials in the West Bank expressed similar statements, clearly asking that the war be moved to the West Bank where the Israeli army should occupy Palestinian cities.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan said in a statement after the attack, “We ask you to act now and to start the war against terrorists. We want security now.”

The operation came as a surprise to Israel as it was not preceded by any security alerts.

Israeli media said army officers had left their military checkpoint only half an hour before the operation took place.

The Israelis believe that “after Iran's failure to tighten the noose on Israel through Hezbollah, Hamas and the Assad regime in Syria, Iran is trying to establish cells inside Israeli-controlled territory,” according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.

Hamas, Jihad Praise Attack

No party has claimed responsibility for the attack. But Hamas and the Islamic Jihad quickly praised the operation.

The Movement described it as a “heroic response against the occupation's continued crimes (including) the war of genocide in Gaza.”

Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida said in a post on Telegram that “Israel will never enjoy security” unless the Palestinian people also have security.