Conference of European Rabbis’ standing committee statement: ‘Deeply disturbed by Pope Francis’ assertion’

“We are deeply disturbed by Pope Francis’s assertion that the Israel Defence Forces’ actions in Gaza “should be carefully investigated to determine whether it fits into the technical definition of genocide as formulated by jurists and international bodies”.

“In the wake of the Holocaust, the definition of genocide was defined by the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

“Whilst the effectiveness of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas can be debated, it remains a military response to the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 and its explicit threat to repeat those indiscriminate murderous rampages whenever they can, and Israel is committed to international humanitarian law, while Hamas is violating every norm of that law.

“Israel is fighting a defensive war against an unprovoked, barbaric enemy, unrestrained by any Western code of law or warfare. It is also fighting for the return of 101 hostages that are still being held by Hamas and its co-conspirators under most inhumane conditions. Despite the singularly difficult challenge of fighting a terrorist army that purposefully operates from within civilian population centres, Israel, in its military measures to defend itself, can still not be said to be engaging in genocide. The Pope’s support for this dangerous proposition lends credibility to the insidious narrative propagated by Iran and its proxies through international organisations. In our present time, when the free world and Western Civilisation are under attack from dictatorships, the pope’s leadership is called for to defend freedom and democracy.

“The term genocide is now thrown around as a surreptitious propaganda device, shifting the responsibility from perpetrator to victim, from terrorist organisations unto the State of Israel. The mass murder by Hamas and their collaborators, and as intently expressed in their Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, 1988, demonstrates that unlike Israel, the aggressors absolutely do intend, have attempted and continue to attempt genocide.

“The Bible declares how “the prudent guard their tongue” as “life and death are in the power of the tongue,” which our lived experience, suffering from rising violent anti-Semitism sadly confirms; every word issued from a major leader has immense consequences.”

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