Vatican City. Pope Francis mentions for the first time accusations of “genocide” in Gaza pointing to Israel and calls for an investigation, in a book about to be published and of which several fragments were released on Sunday.
“What is happening in Gaza, which according to some experts seems to have the characteristics of a genocide, should be carefully investigated to determine if it falls within the technical definition maintained by jurists and international organizations,” the Pope believes.
These statements are extracts from the Argentine pontiff’s new book, Hope never disappointswhich will be released on Tuesday in Italy, Spain and South America, and that the newspapers The Press y The Country They published on Sunday.
The Argentine pontiff often refers to the extermination of Jews during the Second World War, the “genocide” of the Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, of the Tutsis in Rwanda or of Christians in the Middle East.
Francis frequently laments the civilian victims in Gaza but this is the first time he has publicly used the term genocide in the context of Israeli military operations in the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli embassy to the Holy See reacted on Sunday on its X account, indicating that it had launched a “self-defense” offensive in Gaza in retaliation for “the genocidal massacre of Israeli citizens” carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
“Any attempt to call this self-defense by another name is equivalent to isolating the Jewish State,” the diplomatic representation wrote.
Shortly after, Francisco posted his own message on X.
“#Let’sPrayTogether for peace: in tormented Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, in Myanmar [Birmania]in Sudan. War makes people inhuman and induces them to tolerate unacceptable crimes. May the rulers listen to the cry of the people who ask for peace,” he wrote.
A special UN committee published a report on Thursday in which it estimates that the war methods used by Israel “correspond to the characteristics of a genocide.”
The report of this special UN committee, created in 1968 and in charge of investigating Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian Territories, will be presented on Monday at the UN General Assembly in New York.
The United States expressed disagreement with the committee’s conclusion.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘133913093805922’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘Contact’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘Donate’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘FindLocation’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘Lead’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘Search’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘Subscribe’, {value: ‘0.00’, currency: ‘MXN’, predicted_ltv: ‘0.00’});
fbq(‘track’, ‘ViewContent’);
#Pope #Francis #calls #investigation #genocide #Gaza
–
As the editor of world-today-news.com, I would like to invite you both, Tom and Jerry, to share your insights on the recent statement made by Pope Francis regarding the situation in Gaza. Pope Francis has for the first time used the term ‘genocide’ to describe the situation in Gaza and called for an investigation into Israeli military operations. This has sparked a lot of controversy and reactions from different quarters. Let’s start by exploring the significance of the Pope’s statement and its potential consequences.
Tom, as a Middle East analyst, what are your thoughts on the Pope’s use of the term ‘genocide’ in this context? Do you think it is appropriate, and why?
Jerry, as an Israeli diplomat, how do you perceive the Pope’s comments? Do you think there is any justification for him to use such strong language, and how does it affect Israel’s relationship with the Vatican?
Moving on to discuss the UN report that was recently released, which calls Israeli war methods ‘genocide.’ Tom, can you shed some light on the implications of this report and its impact on international relations? Also, what do you think are the practical steps that need to be taken to address the situation in Gaza?
Jerry, the Israeli government has dismissed the UN report’s findings. Can you comment on this response and discuss possible alternative solutions to address the ongoing conflict in the region?
