Pope Francis Speaks Out On Israeli Terrorism

By David Starr

 

Hardline Israel supporters have been foaming at the mouth every time Israel is criticized. They never fail to whip out the ant-semitic card against those who “dare” to do so. The hardliners fully support Israel no matter what it does, including attempted genocide in Gaza. (Although they excuse Israel for “defending itself.”)

 

A notable target for hardliners is Pope Francis, who called out Israel for its military aggression in Gaza. Not that he was direct in the matter, but he made a strong implication that Israel is practicing terrorism. 

 

Pope Francis spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog via telephone. Herzog repeated the excuse used by hardliners that it is all Hamas’s fault. While Hamas did perpetuate a violent act that could fall under the category of terrorism, hardliners like Herzog blatantly ignore the occupation and settlements as the root causes of a decades-old problem. 

 

Francis responded, saying that it is “forbidden to respond to terror with terror.” There’s the strong implication by Francis that Israel is also guilty of terrorism. But Herzog resented the remark, saying that Israel took necessary actions to “defend” itself. This is actually a weak argument by virtue of the fact that Israel has gone way beyond self-defense. It’s committing collective punishment.

 

At St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on November 22, 2023, Francis gave a statement where he additionally said that the conflict has “gone beyond war. This is terrorism.” Francis actually is showing courage in speaking out against the conflict, saying that Israel is also at fault. This is like blasphemy to hardline supporters of Israel. 

 

There was the inevitable backlash, which is a sign of the heightening tensions between some Jewish leaders and the Vatican. 

  

The U.S. Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center was somewhat civil in his remarks, at least initially: “The pope, because he is the pope, has to measure his words. To show empathy for the Palestinians who lost loved ones in Gaza is a decent thing to do.” Then, Cooper came off as a hardline supporter, saying “But what the pope was approaching, and I hope he didn’t get there, was to give a moral equivalency to the medieval butchery [of the Hamas attack] and the acts of a democratic country.”

 

There is a glaring hypocrisy in the last thing Cooper said. Medieval butchery? Cooper is apparently in deep denial about the acts of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The actions of Hamas are tragic, but Israel, that is, the IDF, has committed actions that are even more tragic, with the deaths of about 20,000 Palestinians and the cutting off of water, food, electricity, etc. in what can be described as a medieval siege. And it’s justifiable to question whether Israel is a democratic country now, considering the fascist, right-wingers that are currently in power.

 

As for Israeli officials, they have not come out to condemn Francis so far, giving how the pope is a symbol of authority. But they desperately continue to defend their invasion of Gaza, as though Palestinians didn’t have the right to exist. There are a few choice words that have been used about Israel and its actions: war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing. And also adding mass murder. Words that Israeli right-wingers in particular resent, and hysterically. 

 

The pope did have meetings with the relatives of Israeli hostages and relatives of Palestinians who are in Gaza. There were two separate meetings, which lasted about 20 minutes each. The Israeli relatives were thankful that Francis met with them but complained about the time it lasted. The Palestinian relatives mentioned that the pope called the siege of Gaza genocide, although there weren’t any reporters around. The meetings were private. 

 

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said in a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), the AJC was grateful that the pope visited the Israeli relatives. But the statement also included the following: “later in the day, he described the Israel-Hamas war as ‘beyond war,’ as ‘terrorism.’ Hamas’ butchering and kidnapping of civilians is terrorism. Israel’s self-defense is not, please clarify.” While obviously showing empathy for the Israeli victims, the AJC, as is typical with other sources, ignored the Palestinian victims, and does not admit that Israel went way beyond self-defense.

 

The Council of the Assembly of Italian Rabbis asserted that the pope blamed both sides for terrorism. Which he did. And rightfully so. But that isn’t going over well with the hardliners. In their minds, Israel good, Hamas bad. Strictly a B/W reaction.

 

Adding to the statement by the Simon Wiesenthal Center was the following: 

 

“It is important for one of the world’s primary faith leaders, for whom people of all faiths look to spiritual and moral guidance, not to forget those who came to speak and seek solace from him, all their suffering, all their loss, are on the hands of the Hamas terrorists who, on October 7^th, inflicted in the most brutal way, the worst mass murder of Jews since the defeat of Nazi Germany and World War II.”

 

Tragic that the Hamas attack was, killing about 1,200 Israelis, it pales in comparison to the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis. The death toll of Palestinians in Gaza comes closer to that total, about 20,000, and it’s still rising.

 

Most of the world is against Israel’s military aggression in Gaza. But the hardliners continue to use the antisemitic card against those who criticize Israel. That’s deep denial, and actually for the Israeli fascists, the attitude of not giving a damn.