Pope Francis accuses Israel of ‘cruelty’ and slaughtering children in Gaza

Israel’s foreign ministry blasts pontiff’s accusations against Israel, calling his attacks a ‘double standard’ against the Jewish state.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Pope Francis accused Israel twice over the weekend of “cruelty” in the Gaza Strip and claimed that Israeli forces were “machine-gunning” Arab children in the coastal enclave.

On Saturday, Pope Francis gave his annual Christmas address to Vatican department chiefs, during which he condemned an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip that the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claimed killed 25 people.

“Yesterday, children were bombed,” Pope Francis said. “This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to say this because it touches the heart.”

A day earlier, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli (Likud) ripped the pontiff over a quote attributed to him in a recently published book in which he appeared to accuse Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Last month, Pope Francis issued a clarification regarding his comments, published recently in Hernán Reyes Alcaide’s new book, Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World, in which he called for an investigation into allegations of genocide in Gaza.

“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” Pope Francis was quoted as saying. “We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

Following a wave of criticism, Pope Francis said that Alcaide had taken his comments out of context.

The pontiff rekindled the firestorm on Saturday, however, with his fresh allegations against Israel, drawing a sharp retort from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

“Cruelty is terrorists hiding behind children while trying to murder Israeli children; cruelty is holding 100 hostages for 442 days, including a baby and children, by terrorists and abusing them,” the ministry tweeted.

“Unfortunately, the Pope has chosen to ignore all of this, as well as the fact that Israel’s actions have targeted terrorists who used children as human shields.”

The ministry called the Pope’s comments “disappointing” and “disconnected” and accused the pontiff of “singling out” Israel.

“The blame should be directed solely at the terrorists, not at the democracy defending itself against them. Enough with the double standards and the singling out of the Jewish state and its people.”

On Sunday, however, the Pope doubled down on his comments, again accusing Israel of “cruelty” in the Gaza Strip and intimating that the IDF is intentionally massacring Gazan children.

“And with pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” Pope Francis said after the weekly Angelus prayer.

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