The more than 180-year-old nonprofit B’nai B’rith International stated on Thursday that it is “troubled” by Pope Francis’s remarks that “obscure key facts about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas-led terrorists.”
The pope said that the Jewish state is machine-gunning children in the Gaza Strip and that “this is cruelty. This is not war.” His comments come “particularly during a holiday season that should unite the world’s religious communities and renew determination to address the actual sources of suffering globally,” B’nai B’rith stated.
“B’nai B’rith joins all people of decency in yearning fervently for genuine and lasting peace in the Middle East and throughout the world. We empathize with all innocent people experiencing pain and hardship, including as a tragic by-product of war,” it stated. “However, especially coming from the world’s most visible faith leader at the start of Christmas, it is essential that pronouncements on the difficult and complex Gaza hostilities be accurate, open-eyed and fair.”
“Israel does not ‘machine-gun’ or target children. Any suggestion otherwise is a profoundly damaging misrepresentation—clearly liable to stoke antisemitism and encourage anti-Israel jihadists to continue tactics of deliberately putting civilians in harm’s way,” it added.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church has not mentioned terror attacks on the Jewish state nor Iran’s sponsorship of those attacks, B’nai B’rith stated.
“We urge our friends and partners in the Catholic Church to exercise due care in the rhetorical treatment of Israel—the Middle East’s only democracy and an outpost of religious freedom and diversity in a very turbulent and challenging region,” it added.
