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IRAQ: Who is threatening the tomb of Ezekiel? Dubai launches

Israeli Propaganda around the tomb of Ezekiel

by Gilles Munier, France-Iraq- News, 15/2/2010

A campaign Propaganda conducted by Shlomo Alfassa, director of the association Americans "Justice for Jews from Arab countries" , relayed by the Israeli press and the site of CRIF (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France), says Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki intends transform the tomb of Ezekiel in mosque "and erase all the marks of Judaism" ... under pressure from Sunni fundamentalists.
The biblical prophet, who was deported from the kingdom of Judah in Babylon in 597 BC. BC by Nebuchadnezzar II, Kiffle buried near Najaf, is known for his apocalyptic visions and his sermons calling Jews to return to Jerusalem, while acknowledging they do not deserve it. the "great cloud" he saw in the heavens, spreading " all sides a bright light in the center of which shone like burnished brass " , also made him the first man saw a flying saucer!

The prophecies of Ezekiel inspired extremists even Israelis and Christian Zionists Americans. One known as Gog and Magog - particularly obscure (1) - was used, under Ronald Reagan, to mobilize evangelicals against the Soviet Union and communism. Under W. Bush justified the prophecy the same war against the Axis of Evil and the invasion of Iraq. In early 2003, Bush had cited in Jacques Chirac to persuade him to go to war to fight the Antichrist!

the tomb of Ezekiel, 1932 © Library of Congress ( Arabs in the photo are Jews )

The Caliph Ali it is collected

I visited the tomb of Ezekiel on three occasions between 1998 and 2002 (2). I had trouble knowing where he was, until a friend told me to ask where is buried Dhu-l-Kiffle , the name given to it in the Koran. The next day, on my way to Kiffle, a large village situated between Babylon and Najaf. The dome of the tomb, Buyid style, is visible from afar. I crossed a magnificent souk, robust wooden stalls which were once occupied by Jewish merchants. He belonged to the wealthy Sassoon family, the Iraqis compared to the Rothschilds in Europe (3). The Jews of Kiffle - like most 120 000 living in Iraq - have left the country after the creation of Israel, under the pro-British monarchy, lured by promises of a better life, worried about the turn taken by some pro Palestinian protests, but also terrified by the attacks organized by the Mossad to push them to immigrate under the Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. The proof has been made since.

Then I stepped on an esplanade partly covered by the ruins of a mosque Abbasid . A magnificent minaret student there always decorated with carved bricks and Kufic calligraphy style. At the time, he was already talking to rebuild everything. Near the door of the tomb of Ezekiel, the entrance to a tunnel which are at extraordinary legends, is doomed. The shrine consists of three adjoining rooms. The first is an old synagogue painted the walls in places, excerpts from the Torah in Hebrew. The second is for the monument erected to the prophet, to whom the Caliph Ali, son of the Prophet Muhammad, who lived close to Kufa, would have collected. The dome of the tomb is covered with floral motifs. Before going into the last room, a space is laid out for prayer. The guard then told me that Al-Khidr - Imam Green - symbolic figure mentioned in the Qur'an, there appeared. Past the door, he shows me five graves aligned, covered with green cloth. These, he said, those disciples of Ezekiel, imprisoned with him in 597 BC. AD, after the second Exodus. The mausoleum would was built on the site of their prison.

Rehabilitation in question

Many Muslims do not link the Dhu-l-Kiffle the Koran, and Ezekiel. Ibn Kathir , exegete of the Holy Book, said ^{to 14 th century} Kifle's tomb was that of the son of the prophet Ayoub (Job). According to others, Ezekiel was buried near Baghdad alongside Sem (Son of Noah) and Arphaxad (son of Shem ) and noted that another tomb of Ezekiel exists Dezful in southern Iran (Arabistan).

Apart Wahhabi hostile to the erection of religious monuments, no one in Iraq does intend to raze the tomb of Ezekiel, any more than other Jewish prophets buried in the country ;: Ezra, Nahum, Jonah and Daniel. Their sanctuaries will be rehabilitated. The only problem is that Iraq is synonymous with concrete rehabilitation. Several mosques - including those of the Companions of the Prophet - churches, and even the house of Ali in Kufa, have borne the brunt of this technique of embellishment, however well intentioned.

Israelis who are campaigning for "save the tomb of Ezekiel" are known for being great destroyers of ancient remains and Islamic disturbing their ideological convictions, are poorly placed to give lessons heritage of mankind. Notes

(1) For info http://www.bibleenligne.com/Commentaire_biblique/Commentaire_intermediaire/AT/Ezechiel/Ez38.htm
(2) Source: Guide to Iraq by Gilles Munier (Ed. Picollec - 2000)
(3) Ezekiel Sasson, Senior Minister of Finance of the first Iraqi government under King Faisal 1 st , with his wife is buried near the tomb of Ezekiel, in a house now in ruins.