Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb Grand Imam of al-Azhar Mosque in Egypt on Friday said he turned down a request from US vice president Mike Pence to meet him in Cairo on December 20 and called on the Palestinians to rise up against the Israeli occupation.
The US embassy in Cairo had made a formal request a week ago to arrange for that meeting between Pence and Sheikh Tayeb.
However Sheikh Tayeb accepted to meet him at the time but he changed his mind after US president Donald Trump signed a decision recognizing Occupied Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The Grand Imam of al-Azhar said “he cannot sit with those who falsify history usurp peoples’ rights and assault their holy sites.”
“How can I sit with those who gave what they do not have to those who are not the rightful owners?” he questioned calling on Trump to immediately backtrack on his “invalid and unlawful” step.
Al-Azhar Imam also held Trump and his administration fully responsible for igniting hatred in the hearts of Muslims and all peace lovers in the world and undermining their belief in all principles of justice and peace and democratic values which the American people claim to respect.
