During Sunday mass, Pope Benedict XVI prayed to God to stop the terrorists and put an end to the bombings. He mentioned the attacks that have taken place in ‘countries including Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Britain.’ The fact that the Pope left out Israel was not met well by the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
This was ‘granting legitimacy to… terrorist attacks against Jews,’ due to the Pope failing to include the suicide bombing in Netanya killing five Israelis on July 12, the Ministry explained in a statement addressed to the Vatican embassy. It further claims that Pope Benedict ‘deliberately failed’ to pronounce Israel and that he should condemn terror attacks ‘against Jews in the same way he condemns terror attacks against others.’
The Vatican has dismissed the charges and its spokesperson Joaquin Navarro-Valls declared that Israel has twisted the message of the Pope.
