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The Rev. Faiz Basheer Jerjes embraces some of the children who attend school at St. Georges Church in Baghdad, Iraq. Photo: Courtesy of Stand With Iraqi Christians

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Faiz BasheerJerjes, the only Anglican priest serving the only Anglican Church in Iraq, is in the middle of a visit to the United States, where hes sharing the story of his church and its ministries through a series of events.

Jerjes is accompanied by Sinan Hannah Karakash, chief administrator of St. Georges Church. Their trip is co-sponsored by The Episcopal Churchs Office of Global Partnerships and Stand With Iraqi Christians, an Episcopal nonprofit that serves to financially and spiritually support Christians in Iraq.

[Stand With Iraqi Christians] is thrilled to welcome Canon Faiz and Sinan Hannah to the United States, primarily to raise awareness within The Episcopal Church of the powerful ministries of our church in Iraq, Buck Blanchard, co-chair of SWIC, told Episcopal News Service. Their work provides healing to the people of Iraq, both spiritually and practically.

On May 17, The Episcopal Churchs Office of Global Partnerships will host a webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern. Its an opportunity to listen to Jerjes speak about St. Georges ministries and how to curb religious extremism in Iraq, which is a predominantly Shia Muslim country with multiple religious minority groups, including Yazidis and Zoroastrians in addition to Christians.

Jerjes was born in Baghdad into a Syriac Christian family. He was ordained a deacon in 2011 and became the first Iraqi national to be ordained an Anglican priest a year later. St. Georges Church is part of the Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf.

St. Georges Church in Baghdad is home to a couple of hundred Christians. Jerjes said that supporting Iraqi Christians will help minimize their suffering, and they may stay in [Iraq] because they will have a decent life.

I have chosen [to visit] the United States because the United States is directly involved with the Iraqi situation; the whole system has changed since the moment the United States started the war in 2003, Jerjes told ENS through Karakash, who is serving as his interpreter. I am looking to find resources for St. George so that we can have a Christian community exactly as it was in the past.

An estimated 1.5 million Christians lived in Iraq before the U.S.-led war in Iraq started in 2003. Over the last 20 years much of the Christian community has fled Iraq to escape violence and persecution, and now that number is approximated to be in the hundreds of thousands or less and continues to dwindle even though the war officially ended in 2011. St. Georges Church was badly damaged by bombings during the war. The COVID-19 pandemic and ISIS have exacerbated the situation.

Through its church-based interfaith ministries, St. Georges Church provides free medical and dental care to the community, as well as an elementary school for children. The church also has a resource center with books and computer access for students, and it frequently hosts interfaith activities for the community.

Hearing Jerjes story firsthand about St. Georges Church in the context of ministry will help develop relationships as Christians learn from one another, the Rev. Paul Feheley, The Episcopal Churchs Middle East partnership officer, told ENS. He said he hopes the new dialogue will lead to empathy.

Its not just about [Westerners] shifting dollars to the church in Iraq, but its also about developing these relationships, Feheley said. I recently worshiped with people at St. Georges; it was all in Arabic, a language I dont speak, but nevertheless because theres a unity about Eucharist that goes around the world, it was easy to follow, and I knew where in the Mass they were Like the invitation from Jesus to the disciples in John chapter one, Come and see.

Jerjes is visiting several Episcopal churches, non-governmental organizations, government officials and other organizations this month to inform people about the struggles Christians face in Iraq and share how they can help support St. Georges ministries.

While in Washington, D.C., last week, Jerjes spoke at in-person forums at Washington National Cathedral and Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes; he also spoke at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral in Pennsylvaniaon May 15. On May 21, he will speak at Saint Bartholomews Church and on May 22 Church of the Holy Trinity, both in New York City.

Feheley said that both donating money to St. Georges Church and reaching out to members of Congress as legislation affecting people in Iraq comes through are examples of tangible ways to help the Iraqi people.

If youre going to be a Christian, then you cant ignore the many Biblical things Jesus said about caring for other people, Feheley said. Its very easy to comfortably sit back and do nothing, but we cant ignore what the call is were commissioned to do by baptism, what were called to do by the eucharist. So, we need to use a faith-in-action approach to prayer and supporting the people in Iraq.

For more information on how to help, click here.

-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkan@episcopalchurch.org.

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Iraq's only Anglican priest visits US to inform Episcopalians about ... - Episcopal News Service

A video of a street play from Iraq is being shared online with a false claim that it shows a sex slave auction organised by terrorist group ISIS.

BOOM found that the video was staged for social awareness, and was part of an art performance shot in Erbil, Iraq.

The video shows a man approaching women dressed in burqas, removing their niqabs to see their faces and putting them back after. The video is being shared with the claim that the women are being enslaved, and the only people allowed to see their faces is their owner. One caption on Twitter reads, "This is sex slave market in 21st century by ISIS. If "liberals & moderate muslims" put half of the energy they put in playing victim card & dissemination of narrative of Islamophobia, these "slave markets" will end for sure. But, they will say ISIS doesn't represent Islam."

BOOM had previously debunked another video, made to raise awareness about sex slavery. A similar video showing a mock sex slave trade, made for spreading awareness, was being shared with false claims by several news channels and right-wing groups. Read our fact-check here.

Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.

This video is being shared in the backdrop of controversial Hindi film The Kerala Story, which claims to depict the plight of women from the state who have been abducted by ISIS and trafficked to regions such as Afghanistan and Syria. Read more about the filmmakers' claims here.

Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.

The post is also circulating on Facebook.

Click here to view and here for an archive.

BOOM found that the video shows a street play titled 'The Unheard Screams of The Ezidkhan Angles', organised in March 2023 in Erbil, Iraq.

A reverse image searchof some of the key visuals from the video on Google led us to a TikTok video uploaded by user Zhyar M Barzani. The post, uploaded on May 7, 2023, was shared with the caption, "By : Aryan Rafiq Art performans The Unheard Screams Of The Ezidkhan Angels 2023." The first 22 seconds of the video are an exact match to our viral video.

Click here to view.

Taking a cue from this caption, we looked for more details about this performance and found the Facebook profile of Aryan Rafiq, the director, who had shared an invitation for the performance on March 8. The post also mentioned the date and time of the event-- March 8 from 3 pm onwards, and the location was near Erbil Citadel.

Aryan Rafiq routinely posts about their art performances and artworks that highlight the atrocities inflicted on Iraqi and Iranian women.

Further, we geolocated the venue, Erbil Citadel in Kurdistan, Iraq and found that the architecture, specifically, the arches in the structure matched the ones in the viral video. Here is a comparison:

We also noticed that several members of the audience were recording the performance on their phones:

BOOM has reached out to Aryan Rafiq, the director of the performance via Facebook. This story will be updated upon receiving a response.

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Video of Street Play In Iraq Peddled As ISIS Sex Slave Auction | BOOM - BOOM

As part of his three-day visit, Lipavsky will meet top officials of both states. Photo credit: Jan Lipavsk, via Facebook.

Prague, May 19 (CTK) Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky (Pirates) will visit Saudi Arabia and Iraq next week along with representatives of 15 Czech industrial companies, the Foreign Ministry told CTK yesterday.

As part of his three-day visit, he will meet top officials of both states.

The Czech delegations trip will last from 23-25 May.

The ministers political talks with top officials of Saudi Arabia and Iraq will focus on the development of bilateral relations as well as on current political and security developments in the Middle East region, in which both countries play a key role, the ministry said.

In Iraq, Lipavsky will also meet representatives of allied military missions where Czech experts are deployed. In Saudi Arabia, a working meeting on the human rights situation in the country is scheduled.

The participation of Czech industry in the development plans of Saudi Arabia and Iraq is to be supported by one-day business forums, which Lipavsky will open. The key industry in Saudi Arabia and Iraq is oil and its processing.

Saudi Arabias trade with the Czech Republic was close to 10 billion crowns in 2021, and has long been in surplus for the Czech Republic, based on information from the BusinessInfo.cz portal, run by the state agency CzechTrade. Imports from Iraq to the Czech Republic are historically minimal, while exports are above 1 billion crowns a year.

Last November, a Czech delegation of representatives of several ministries attended the second meeting of the Czech-Saudi Joint Commission in Riyadh. The two sides discussed cooperation in tourism and energy and also addressed trade and investment promotion.

The Aero Vodochody company overhauled 12 L-159 aircraft for Iraq in recent years, the last of which flew to Iraq in February.

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Lipavsky To Visit Saudi Arabia and Iraq Along With Business ... - Brno Daily

GM Finance and Company Secretary, Faisal Mahmood, of Lucky Cement Ltd(Yunus Brothers Group)informed Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on 18 May that the company has made a 1.82Mta expansion plan with its joint venture partner in Samawah, Iraq, taking the total capacity under its clinker production company Najmah Al Samawah to 3.13Mta.

It will coincide with the increasing cement demands in Iraq. The management expects the plant to be completed in 18 months, as per PSX notice, after the commencement of construction in 1QFY23-24.

This is expected to take the total cement capacity of the group (including both local and foreign operations) to 21.48Mta, whereby local capacity is set at 15Mta, capacity in DR Congo is 1.31Mta, while capacity in Basra, Iraq, is 1.74Mta. At the same time, Samawah will have a grinding capacity of 3.13Mta.

According to AHL Research, this project will allow the company to secure a clinker supply for its cement grinding facility in Basra, Iraq. The company has a 50 per cent stake in this JV.

See the article here:
Lucky to add a new clinker line of 1.82Mt in Iraq - International Cement Review

In a cavernous warehouse in Canberras industrial outskirts, two irreconcilable world views are in sharp discord. A F/A-18 Classic Hornet fighter looms spookily above three everyday artefacts: a worn pair of Dunlop Volleys splattered in red; a four-litre paint tin and roller and a tourists snow globe containing the Sydney Opera House in miniature. Its tiny sails bear the words: No War.

On March 20, 2003, a coalition of American, British and Australian troops invaded Iraq on faulty intelligence to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction. A forthcoming gallery at the Australian War Memorial will be devoted to that turmoil with the Hornet jet a centrepiece, along with the No War items and works from former official war artists Charles Green and Lyndell Brown, Lewis Miller and Megan Cope within a larger set of exhibitions about Middle Eastern conflicts since the Gulf War in 1990. The new Iraq War gallery isnt expected to open until 2025, although the memorial managed some brilliant long-lead publicity for it in March this year, coinciding with the 20-year anniversary of the wars commencement. A blaze of news stories promised that the gallery will encompass civilian, diaspora and military views.

Demonstrators Dave Burgess and Will Saunders created an iconic moment in protest culture in 2003 when they carefully painted No War on the Sydney Opera House. Burgess and Saunders were sentenced to nine months of weekend detention for malicious damage, and a compensation bill of $151,000, paid for in part by sales of their No War snow globe merchandise.

The new Iraq War gallery will contextualise their protest keepsakes with an oral history by Burgess. Its about looking at the different ways that people are striving for peace, thats how I actually see both of these stories working, says Dr Kerry Neale, lead curator, of the juxtaposition of the Hornet and Burgesss protest objects. So youve got those who serve, looking to make the world a more peaceful place through their service and protecting different areas that are in conflict, and those that are striving for peace through painting No War.

The war became a discredited and protracted conflict that killed four Australians and lasted a decade. Australian troops were part of an invading force not sanctioned by the United Nations. Though the tally for civilian deaths is murky, the Mortality in Iraq Associated with the 2003-2011 War study estimates 500,000 Iraqis died.

The memorials new spotlight on peace stories is ostensibly a break from its usual approach to nationalistic memorialisation, which has skewed ever closer to both the defence lobby and government lines in recent years. Priced at $550 million, its new building project has been criticised by a range of historians, heritage experts and museum professionals as expensive, unnecessary and proceeding without proper consultation.

Dr Peter Stanley, who worked as a historian and exhibition curator at the memorial from 1980-2007, told me it only reluctantly grapples with peace movements. An April visit I made to the memorial seemed to bear this out. In the Vietnam War gallery, for instance, two small badges stand in for all objects from the three moratoriums in 1970-71, the largest demonstrations in Australian history at the time. Their inclusion seems cursory compared to the abundance of dioramas, multimedia re-enactments of operations and military hardware.

The experience of walking through the current galleries is more akin to a themed recruitment booth than a military history museum that invites open dialogue and critical reflection. The cafe menu bears a troops full breakfast, the memorial magazine is called Wartime and posters near the entrance bear portraits of current soldiers and the words patriotism, control, chivalry.

Its easy to see why. The memorial tells the Australian Defence Forces history. It needs the ADFs co-operation to gain collection material such as the Hornet fighter. For the new galleries, an ADF advisory committee gives feedback. ADF members are seconded to the memorial so it remembers who its serving. A Last Post ceremony is held daily. The ADFs three service chiefs are legally assured council roles. The council which was described by Dr David Stephens of the Heritage Guardians group as the governing body of a military club approves or asks for modifications of exhibition plans, mission statements and gallery development proposals. Eight of its 12 members are current or former ADF members; Tony Abbott is another.

The Albanese government declined a recommendation in February from its independent National Cultural Policy Advisory Group that the memorial be returned to the Arts portfolio Bob Hawke excised it to Veterans Affairs, part of the Defence portfolio, after intense lobbying from the RSL in the 1980s. No other body does cultural curation within such a politicised structure that serves simultaneously as an arts institution, commemorative body, tourist attraction, archive and centre of research. If they were all part of the Arts portfolio, says Stanley, it wouldnt be bureaucratically possible to give one institution more than all the others.

Its interesting to consider whether another major arts institution might be more even-handed, by, say, presenting documentation of the complaint made against John Howard for war crimes to the International Criminal Court, or a more substantial record of anti-war history. The National Library of Australia, for instance, holds a considerable collection of anti-war objects.

Neale told me the curatorial focus would remain in tune with the memorials emphasis on personal storytelling of those whove served and their experiences.

Were looking at psychological trauma, the impact on families of those whove served, those who return and those who die.

In the existing galleries, this approach depoliticises and neutralises the militaristic messaging. The issue is whose stories are selected. Theyre telling the laudable stories that you can feel proud about, says Stanley. Rarely do they talk about challenging stories. With the recent conflicts, he continues, we were all out there with placards calling on no war. So the thing is, what proportion should [the anti-war representation] occupy [in the new gallery], what scale should it be at?

These are appropriate considerations: at their very core, exhibitions communicate their narratives through spatial dimensions of form, shape, scale, proportion, and the selection and balance of museum artefacts.

Neale says the Hornet fighter jet will provide a lot of visual impact and will take up a lot of space in the gallery. This seems in keeping with the Memorials narrow focus on veterans, service people and the type of war-buff trophies historian Douglas Newton described to me as catering to schoolboy wonderment in weaponry. In his 2019 submission to the Memorial during its consultation period, Newton proffered an alternative institutional vision, to mount exhibitions that constantly explore the very deepest questions about our military engagements: How do we get into war? Why do wars persist? To what end are they fought? How can we limit them? This ought to involve exhibitions that go far beyond exploring our record of military endeavour.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper onMay 20, 2023 as "War stories".

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The Iraq War gallery at the Australian War Memorial - The Saturday Paper