The Israeli ambassador to the Vatican accuses the Egyptian Muslim leader of being anti-Semitic and criticizes the Pope for not condemning him

The war in Gaza has changed many things and relations between the Vatican and Israel They have become complicated. The last protagonist is the Israeli ambassador accredited to the Holy See, Raphel Sholz, a few days before the audience with the Pope.

The cause: according to the diplomat, the Egyptian sheikh Ahmed Al Tayeb, a close friend of Francis, with whom five years ago he signed a document on the Brotherhood which brought Sunni Muslims closer to the Vatican Pope, would have published a “terribly anti-Semitic” statement.

The Israeli ambassador referred to the long letter that Francis sent to the imam of Cairo, Al Tayyeb, on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the document of the Brotherhood between Catholics and Muslims, which was widely disseminated in the predominantly Sunni Muslim world.

In the message sent this Monday, Francis praised the spirit of dialogue and friendship, which he considers mutual between the two religious leaders «and which continues to bear fruit while in many parts of the world the effects of the absence of fraternal solidarity produce environmental destruction and “social” degradation.

In his text, the Argentine Pope also considers it essential to draw attention to the principles that can guide humanity “through the shadows of injustice, hatred and war”.

Reproaches

The Israeli ambassador noted to the pontiff that “the lack of criticism of the attitude expressed by the Imam regarding the events that occurred in Gaza after the October 7 massacre against Israelis, which caused over 1,200 deaths and numerous hostages taken to Gaza, brought Israel into war against Hamas.”

On that occasion, the ambassador recalled, Al Tyyen praised “the Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza, who are facing the merciless Israeli aggression against them”.

It should be remembered that Pope Francis sent an open letter to the Jews of Israel to remember him Anti-Semitism “is a sin in the eyes of God” and underline that in his “heart the Jews have a special place, together with the Palestinians”.

In November, a letter signed by more than 400 rabbis and scholars of the Jewish religion from around the world asked the Pope for “a word of closeness” to the Jewish people. The response, which arrived several days later, was greatly appreciated by the American Jewish Committee.

“It is important that in the message the Pope addressed the explosion of anti-Semitism, condemning it as a sin,” he observed.

In a statement, Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rai called Israel’s war against Gaza “a genocide.”

In a speech in Tyre, southern Lebanon, the cardinal said that Israel was “the enemy army.”