IMAM SPARKS ROW IN MILAN
Participation by a Hamas-linked Imam in Milan’s Ramadan celebrations, and the anti-Israel statements which followed, have led
the Jewish community to suspend relations with the local Muslim
umbrella body, the Milan Islamic Associations Coordination (CAIM)
group. The break in relations came in mid-August, after CAIM event
co-ordinator Davide Piccardo was quoted in the media as calling
Israel “a state in constant breach of international law and the most
elementary human rights by continuing a brutal, racist, criminal
occupation”. Earlier, Milanese Jews had decried the participation of
the Jordanian Imam Riyadh al-Bustanji in huge ceremonies organised by CAIM to mark the end of Ramadan at a Milan civic arena, and
criticised Milan’s city authorities for taking part. In June, Al Bustanji
appeared in an interview on Al Aqsa TV – run by Hamas – saying he
would bring his daughter to Gaza to learn how to become a martyr
for Islam. An announcement declaring the severing of relations with
CAIM said Piccardo’s statement “is an inacceptable declaration, not
only for the Milan Jewish community, but also for all the citizenry of
Milan”. Milan mayor Giuliano Pisapia said he hoped the controversy
over the Imam attending the Ramadan celebrations would not damage “the course of dialogue between the various religious faiths”.
BYZANTINE-ERA GOLD UNEARTHED IN JERUSALEM
Dig director Eilat Mazar described the recent excavation of 36 gold coins, a gold
medallion inscribed with a menorah and a selection of gold and silver jewellery,
as “a breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime discovery”. A statement from the Hebrew
University Institute of Archaeology said the treasure was found about 50 yards
from the southern wall of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, on Temple Mount,
being the site of the Jewish temples of kings Solomon and Herod. Dig director
Eilat Mazar said that while excavations in the same area had revealed artefacts
from the time of Solomon’s temple, which was razed by the Babylonians in 586
BC, the seventh century finds were completely unexpected. “It would appear that
the most likely explanation is that the... cache was earmarked as a contribution
toward the building of a new synagogue, at a location that is near the Temple
Mount,” the statement quoted her as saying. “What is certain is that their mission,
whatever it was, was unsuccessful. The treasure was abandoned, and its owners
could never return to collect it.” Mazar estimates they were abandoned in the context of the Persian conquest of Jerusalem in 614 CE. “After the Persians conquered
Jerusalem, many Jews returned to the city and formed the majority of its population, hoping for political and religious freedom. But as Persia