[Apologetics] Analysis: Behind the Vatican-Israeli diplomatic clash

[Art Kelly]

Analysis: Behind the Vatican-Israeli diplomatic clash 
by Phil Lawler 

Aug. 11 (CWNews.com) - Back on July 25, when the
Israeli foreign ministry loosed a verbal assault on
Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news), it just didn't make
sense. 

Why would the Israeli government pick a fight with the
new Pontiff, who has made a point of proclaiming, on
several separate occasions since his election, his
desire to advance relations between Christians and
Jews? 

The substance of the Israeli complaint was remarkably
flimsy. The foreign ministry complained that in
listing recent terrorist attacks, during a Sunday
Angelus audience, the Pope had not mentioned a suicide
bombing in Israel. That's true. But the Pope had only
mentioned incidents that had occurred during the
previous 2-3 days before his remarks; the bombing in
Israel had been nearly two full weeks earlier. So the
Pope's failure to mention Israel was not an
"omission," let alone-- as the Israeli statement
charged-- an omission "which cried out to the
heavens." On this particular occasion, the Holy Father
was speaking about terrorist incidents "of these
days," and the bombing in Israel did not meet that
description. 

Building upon that very shaky premise, the Israeli
press statement made an incendiary charge: that the
Pope's words would be used as justification for
further terrorist attacks on Israel. And still more
astonishing, after the initial volley of words had
passed, and cooler heads should have prevailed, the
Israeli religion minister, Nimrod Barkan, raised the
stakes by complaining that the Vatican, under Pope
John Paul II (bio - news), had a long history of
failure to condemn Palestinian terrorism. 

This second intemperate attack, aimed at the memory of
a Pontiff who is beloved by the world's Jewish
leaders, drew a sharp rebuke from the Vatican, which
noted that the complaints "run counter to historical
truth." The Vatican release provided a long list of
public statements by Pope John Paul condemning
terrorism in the Holy Land. 

A public rebuke to Pope Benedict might have seemed a
risky venture, but an attack on the memory of John
Paul II was a strategy doomed to failure. So again,
why did Israeli officials issue these provocative
statements? 

The complete article is at
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=38967

Art

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