1.
For about a month, Pope Francis has been spreading serious allegations against Israel. It began with headlines quoting him about a "possible genocide" in Gaza, followed by a steady stream of concerning statements. Last Friday, at a cardinals' meeting, he declared: "Yesterday, they didn't allow the patriarch to enter Gaza as previously promised. Yesterday, children were bombed. This is cruelty. This is not war." On Sunday, he repeated similar allegations: "In pain, I think of Gaza... children killed by gunfire, bombings of schools and hospitals... such cruelty!"
This situation is particularly concerning as Christmas approaches. In past centuries, Jews feared leaving their homes during these days, as they were accused of crucifying one of their Jewish brethren. Now, the Church is crucifying the Jewish state with false accusations.
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These statements are false. Contrary to the claims, Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa was allowed to enter Gaza and even brought in a humanitarian aid truck. Children were certainly not "deliberately bombed." Israel has never intentionally bombed children, unlike Hamas's regular practices, but this plays on believers' emotions: Palestinian children whose blood Jews supposedly use for making matzah. According to the New Testament, Jesus's parents fled from Herod's soldiers, who, like Pharaoh, harmed Jewish infants because astrologers said a king of the Jews was born. Now, IDF soldiers are being cast in the role of Herod's soldiers. Notably, in his recent two statements, the Pope did not mention the Israeli hostages, including a Jewish infant in Gaza: Kfir Bibas. Is this coincidental?
As part of this incitement, the Pope was photographed next to a "Jesus in a crib" display with a "Palestinian" keffiyeh. However, Jesus never knew Palestine; he lived in the Land of Israel, traveling through the Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, and even the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount. There were no Arabs then; Islam had not yet been born, and the name Palestina was given to the Jewish land by Emperor Hadrian as punishment for the Bar Kokhba revolt, about 100 years after Jesus's death. Hadrian wanted to eliminate from history the memory of the Jewish homeland. Do facts matter to the Vatican?
These accusations are dozens of times more severe than the Houthi attacks that dominated headlines. Hundreds of millions have been exposed to these allegations. The Pope's words pass from cardinals to bishops and priests worldwide, who will incorporate the Father's accusation into their masses: Jews are crucifying the Palestinian Jesus in Gaza again. Antisemitism has never stopped at words; those waiting in the wings may act against Jews.
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There is a consistent framing of the Gaza war by the Vatican as if it were an attack on Mother Teresa's representatives. The negative statements indicate an obsession – psychological and theological – on the Pope's part to stop what he disapproves of: Jews fighting for their lives and, rather oddly, refusing to be crucified.
This is the truth: Israel is defending itself against barbarians who attacked on October 7: they beheaded our sons, raped our daughters, burned children and parents alive, and kidnapped elderly, women, and children, including Holocaust survivors and infants under one year old. They use their children as human shields and hide missiles and ammunition in kindergartens, schools, and under their infants' beds.
Israel is doing what no Christian nation has ever done: providing food, electricity, and fuel to its enemies during wartime! Despite them holding our hostages without giving them basic humanitarian conditions. The IDF warns enemy populations in advance and evacuates residents from war zones to avoid harming civilians. Who did so in history, Mr. Bergoglio, the Crusaders, or perhaps the Christian rulers in Rome until the 19th Century? What a disgrace.
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In any case, responsibility for harm to children lies solely with Hamas, which continues to hide behind them. We haven't heard the Pope speak about the suffering of Syria's population, the atrocities against the Kurds, or the persecution of Christians in Lebanon – he is obsessive only about Jews.
The historical irony is that Islam is now conquering Christian Europe. Millions of Jews left the continent in previous centuries; those who remained were mostly destroyed in the Holocaust. In their place came tens of millions of Muslims who are turning churches into mosques. The Pope dares not speak about this danger, fearing for the fate of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, and because theologically, his argument is with Judaism. So he incites against Israel. This serious antisemitism cannot remain without an appropriate response. The Jewish world must mobilize against it. Jews are not willing to be crucified again.
