Iran Press/Iran news: Iranian government spokesman, Ali Rabiei criticized US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo for his lack of knowledge of Islamic history and for linking the annual Hajj pilgrimage with Tisha B'Av, a day of mourning in the Jewish calendar.
In a tweet on Monday, Government spokesman admonished Pompeo, after the US secretary of state talked about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and implied that Hajj rituals carried out by Muslim pilgrims went against traditional Jewish mourning ceremony of Tisha B'Av.
In further comments, Ali Rabiei said: "Pompeo ought to know that rituals and traditions of the Hajj pilgrimage are not related or linked in any way with Jewish mourning on the occasion of Tisha B'Av. Pompeo doesn't know Iranian society or Iranian history. Jews, of course, have their own status within Iran. Jewish Iranians have freely observed their religious ceremonies and traditions both before and after the advent of Islam."
Rabiei poignantly added: "But it is nonsense to try to relate Jewish Tisha B'Av with rituals performed by Muslims during Hajj. Mike Pompeo doesn't even understand the real meaning of Tisha B'Av. The great calamity which has befallen both Jews and Palestinian Muslims alike is the Israeli regime itself. The great disaster is the Israeli regime, and we must all pray so that this dark shadow leaves Palestine."
The comments by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo were in response to an earlier message by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution to this year's Hajj pilgrims, but Pompeo seemed to confuse Islamic Hajj with Jewish Tisha B'Av.
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