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Former ambassador to Vatican accuses Israel of ‘boycotting’ Pope’s funeral

Last week, Israeli officials confirmed that the reason for the delay in expressing condolences was Pope Francis’s many statements criticizing Israel.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Former Israeli ambassador to the Vatican Raphael Schutz criticized Israel’s decision not to send a delegation to Pope Francis’s funeral.

Instead, Israel’s current Ambassador to the Vatican Yaron Sideman represented Israel at the Pope’s burial.

US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, other heads of state, and 200,000 others attended the funeral.

In an interview with Israel’s Ynet online outlet, Schutz said, “When a leader of this importance passes away, you don’t deviate from diplomatic protocols.”

He continued, “We should discuss our disagreements with the Vatican only with the Vatican, not boycott the funeral. It was a funeral attended by the whole world, from Trump downwards. Israel’s absence creates a bad impression of us with the entire Catholic Christian world – 1.3 billion people.”

Schutz concluded, “Never mind that the funeral was a chance to connect with other world leaders, as always happens at such funerals. Israel, with its absence, in addition to the antagonism it created with the Christian world, also put on display its political isolation. This is not a good look for us, certainly not in these times.”

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He also criticized the fact that it took four days for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express condolences over the Pope’s death and that the Foreign Ministry deleted a tweet saying, “May he rest in peace.”

Israeli officials confirmed that the reason for the silence from the prime minister and the Foreign Ministry after the latter’s posts were deleted was the Pope’s many statements criticizing Israel.

Last Christmas, in a display by the Vatican, a baby Jesus in a nativity scene was draped in a keffiyeh, showing solidarity with Palestinians, before the garment was removed.

Francis remarked that Israel’s operations in Gaza “is not a war. It’s cruelty,” and he accused the Jewish state of “bombing children and mowing them down with machine guns.” He also claimed that “what is happening in Gaza has characteristics of genocide.”