Sticky Situation

I'm sure that most of you are aware of the recent unfortunate diplomatic confrontation between the Vatican and Israel. It has really cast a shadow over Vatican-Israeli relations, and probably will have some short-term implications for Jewish-Catholic inter-religious relations, as well.

A recap of the affair: One of the Pope's statements condemning terrorism, which did mention days-old incidents in Egypt and London, did not specifically mention less recent attacks in Israel. For some reason the Israelis took vehement exception to this and actually accused the Vatican of omitting their suffering, deliberately. The Vatican response stated that, of course, the Holy Father condemned all acts of terrorism, and the accusations were utterly groundless. At first it seemed to be a one-off spat; but then, an Israeli official publicly charged that it had been Vatican policy for years to ignore Palestinian terrorism.

The Vatican's response this time was much more stern; it stated that "It has not always been possible to follow every attack against Israel with a public declaration of condemnation ... The attacks on Israel were sometimes followed by immediate Israeli reactions not always compatible with the norms of international law; It would thus be impossible to condemn the (terrorist operations) and pass over the (Israeli retaliation) in silence."

It also included a long list of statements from John Paul II condemning acts of violence against Israeli civilians.

Needless to say, it is very unfortunate that all this should be happening right before the Holy Father visits a synagogue during his trip to Germany. Personally, I can understand why the Israelis are sensitive to European dismissals of their suffering, especially since it sometimes seems like certain European members of the United Nations spend much of their time drafting resolutions condemning Israel, while practically justifying Palestinan violence through silence. However, I think Israel's initial protests were a bit ... Could I say ... Silly? I mean, obviously, the Pope thinks it's horrible that civilians are being blown up in Israel. It hardly needs stating, does it? The point was that the attacks in Israel had taken place quite a while before, while the London and Egypt attacks were only a few days old. And to suggest that leaving the Israeli attacks out was deliberate is really quite nasty.

You can read a blow-by-blow assessment here. Warning: although the website is the Age, the article is from the Guardian, I believe. Guardian = Ick.