Israel summons Vatican envoy over pope’s Gaza comments

 

Israel summons Vatican envoy over pope’s Gaza comments – media The Vatican’s ambassador has been summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry after Pope Francis criticized the “cruelty” of airstrikes in Gaza, several Israeli media outlets reported on Wednesday. According to the news website Ynet, Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana was summoned for a conversation with Foreign Ministry Director General Eyal Bar-Tal on Tuesday. Bar-Tal condemned the remarks made by the pope, but did not formally reprimand Yllana, the reports said. The pope renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza ahead of Christmas, highlighting the civilian death toll from Israeli airstrikes. “This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart,” he said, according to Reuters. Last month, the Vatican News cited the pontiff as writing in his forthcoming book that the allegations of genocide committed by the Israeli army against the Palestinians “should be carefully investigated.” — RT Our Take: Wow. The hubris of the Israeli government to "summon" the Vatican like a dog to "answer" for the Pope condemning the deaths of innocent people in a war? Isn't that, like, standard operating procedure for the Pope's office when it comes to any kinetic conflict? And on Christmas, no less? Netanyahu is putting himself in an interesting position, here, with this move. Assuming that Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana obeys being summoned like a dog, and goes to Tel Aviv, will he reverse course and condone the murder of innocent women and children? (Something that the IDF has admitted is occurring, via collateral damage.) If that occurs, what are the optics for Israel? That it has divine authority over the Vatican? (Surely, there are Evangelical Zionists out there who would argue this position, based on the private messages I've received.) And what if the Vatican refuses to oblige? What, exactly, is Netanyahu prepared to do to "reprimand" the Pope? Is he going to going to start bombing Vatican City like he has been doing in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria? (Frankly, it wouldn't be the most shocking thing we've seen lately.) I did find this pretty amazing: Netanyahu putting out a "Christmas message" to all of his Christian friends, where at the end he promises more war—which means more death. He just couldn't help himself. Methinks the spirit of Christmas is lost on Bibi. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry