Israeli Minister Criticizes Pope Francis For Conflict In Gaza

Israeli military operations in Gaza. (Source: Israel Defense Forces)

JAKARTA - An Israeli minister criticized Pope Francis on Friday for calling on the international community to study whether Israeli military attacks in Gaza constitute genocide against the Palestinian people.

In an open letter published by Italian newspaper Il Foglio, Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amicai Chikli said the Pope's statement - made in a quote from a book published last month - was "an insult" to the term genocide.

"As a nation that lost six million sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are very sensitive to insults to the term 'genocide' - an insult very close to Holocaust denial," Chikli wrote.

Chikli, who ended his letter, called Pope Francis "a close friend of Jews," asked the Pope "to clarify your position on the new charges of genocide against the Jewish state".

The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

Israel itself says allegations of genocide in Gaza are baseless, claiming its troops are only hunting down Hamas militants and other Palestinian armed groups.

The Pope, as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is usually cautious in favor of conflict, but has recently been more vocal about Israel's military campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

In a book quote published by the Italian daily La Stampa, the Pope said some international experts said, "what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide".

"We must carefully investigate whether this is in accordance with the technical definition (genocide) formulated by international law experts and organizations," the Pope said.

The latest conflict in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023, after militants led by Hamas attacked Israel's southern region, leaving about 1,200 people dead and more than 250 kidnapped as hostages, according to Israeli calculations.

It was responded to by a blockade campaign, air strikes and ground operations carried out by the Israeli military in response to the Palestinian enclave.

Yesterday, Gaza's medical authorities confirmed that the death toll from Palestine since the latest conflict broke out had reached 45,129 people, while the injured reached 107,338 people quoted from WAFA.

The majority of the victims were children and women. Most of the more than 2 million Palestinian enclave residents lost their homes or fled.