Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited the Vatican’s embassy in Israel on Friday and signed the book of condolences opened to mourn the death of Pope Francis.
Meeting the apostolic nuncio to Israel, Adolfo Tito Camacho Yllana, Herzog expressed his sympathies to the Catholic communities in the Holy Land and the world at large, and stressed his hope that the late pope’s prayers for the release of the hostages in Gaza would soon be realized.
“May his prayers for justice and peace be realized promptly in the immediate release of Israel’s hostages, who are being cruelly held in a glaring crime against humanity, ethics and God, Himself; in the eradication of hatred and extremism; and in a world of growing compassion, in the spirit of the Hebrew prophets and the shared spiritual legacy of humanity,” the president wrote, as conveyed in a press release.
Herzog’s visit comes amid criticism leveled at Israel for not sending senior officials to the pope’s funeral in the Vatican last week.
Moreover, a deleted tweet by the Israeli Foreign Ministry hours after the pontiff’s death led to claims that the Jewish state was muting its reaction to Francis’s death.
“Rest in peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing,” read the deleted tweet, which contained a translation of the Hebrew-language standard phrase for a kind commemoration of a deceased person, akin to “Rest in Peace” in English.
The deletion prompted speculation that it was over Francis’s criticism of Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, including in November when he repeated allegations that “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide.”
An Israeli official on Wednesday, speaking to JNS on condition of anonymity citing diplomatic protocol, pushed back against claims that official Israel was muting its reaction to the pope’s death.
He noted that the statement by Herzog, as head of state, was the “definitive reaction.
“The issues we had with the late pope, of blessed memory, we are not going to air out after his passing, and it didn’t prevent an Israeli acknowledgment at the highest levels of his passing,” the official said.
On April 26, hundreds of thousands of mourners packed St. Peter’s Square and lined the streets of Rome to bid farewell to the Argentine pontiff, who headed the Catholic Church since 2013.
More than 50 heads of state were present at the ceremony, including U.S. President Donald Trump.
Israel was represented at the funeral by its ambassador to the Vatican, Yaron Sideman.