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Vatican Hits Back At
Israel In Suicide Bombers Row

By Bruce Johnston in Rome
The Telegraph - UK
7-30-5
 
The Pope will not be dictated to by Israel, the Vatican declared yesterday, as it hit back at officials of the Jewish state who criticised him for "failing" to condemn a Palestinian suicide bombing.
 
A sharply worded Vatican statement said the Pope could not be expected to condemn every Palestinian bombing because Israel's retaliation for such attacks was "not always compatible with the rules of international law".
 
It would be "impossible" to condemn a Palestinian attack while letting any Israeli military reaction "pass in silence".
 
The staunch defence of the pontiff by Vatican officials came after the Israeli foreign ministry complained that he had "deliberately" failed to mention - during his Angelus prayer last Sunday - a suicide bombing in the town of Netanya. The Pope condemned recent terrorist strikes in Britain, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey, but not the attack that killed five Israelis on July 12. Nimrod Barkan, head of the foreign ministry's Jewish affairs bureau, replied by summoning the Vatican envoy, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, to his office on Monday.
 
Such an omission, Archbishop Sambi was told, had the effect of "granting legitimacy to ... terrorist attacks against Jews". Mr Barkan added that Pope Benedict XVI's predecessor, John Paul II, had also failed to condemn attacks against Israel.
 
He told the Jerusalem Post that if his protest proved ineffective, "we will have to weigh other steps".
 
Mr Barkan seemed unconcerned at whether his protest might harm relations with the new pontiff, who recently accepted an invitation to visit Israel. "What could be worse than implying that it is OK to kill Jews? What else am I supposed to do?" The Vatican said Israel was trying to distort the Pope's intentions. It added that the Church condemned "all forms of terrorism".
 
The row follows a long period of improving relations and threatens to undermine sensitive talks to cement diplomatic ties.
 
Yesterday's Vatican statement said: "It's not always possible to immediately follow every attack against Israel with a public statement of condemnation." This was mainly because "the attacks against Israel sometimes were followed by immediate [Israeli] re-actions not always compatible with the rules of international law.
 
"The Holy See cannot take lessons or instructions from any other authority on the tone and content of its statements." It also defended John Paul II, who died in April, saying that he had publicly condemned Palestinian attacks on "numerous" occasions.
 
Rome's Chief Rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, said the Holy See was acting in the matter like "a political institution, with precise interests to protect in the chess game of the Middle East". He added: "I hope that Benedict, who knows theology so well, will quickly try to also grasp the ways of politics and the art of diplomacy."
 
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/0
7/30/wpope30.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/30/ixworld.html
 

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