Exclusion of Jews from Pope’s visit to birthplace of Abraham was missed opportunity to “correct injustices” to Iraqi Jews

Iraqi Jews were excluded from a meeting with the Pope during a historic visit by the pontiff to Iraq earlier this month.

Referring to the visit in a news release, the Vatican said that Pope Francis would meet “representatives of the three Abrahamic religions” at Abraham’s birthplace, Ur of the Chaldees, where Pope Francis would be urging “Christians, Muslims, and Jews to journey along a path of peace under the stars of the promise God made to Abraham.”

However, it is understood that a public delegation of Jews was not permitted to attend the event, with one prominent Iraqi-Jewish figure calling it a “wasted a historic opportunity to reconcile with its Jews” on the part of the Iraqi Government, and a missed chance to recognise and correct the “injustice committed against them” by successive Iraqi governments.

In his prayer at Ur, the Pope said that “the children of Abraham, Jews, Christians and Muslims…and all good people” thanked G-d for giving them Abraham.

While the Vatican had sought to include Jews, both in prayer and in interfaith meetings, it appeared that the Iraqi Government “stymied efforts for any Jews to travel to Iraq.”

Omar Mohammed, the historian behind the Mosul Eye blog, told The Algemeiner that the absence of Jews at the Papal events harmed Iraq’s image. “Without recognising the Jewish history of Iraq…without recognising the Jewish contribution to Iraq from thousands of years ago until now” there could be no “real diversity or inclusion,” he said.

Jews have lived in Iraq since 586 BCE. In 1948, the Jewish population in Iraq was 150,000. Today it is believed to be fewer than twenty. Jewish sites have fallen into disrepair or have been destroyed while some claim that in recent years, land and property that belonged to the Jewish community has been transferred to Shi’ite religious control.

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