Pope Francis has defended the need to “carefully investigate” whether the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip fits the definition of genocide. He has done so in his new book, ‘Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims towards a better world’, published on the occasion of the Jubilee of 2025 and from which the Italian newspaper ‘La Stampa’ advances some extracts this Sunday. Following these statements, the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See was quick to defend itself.
«According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide. It must be investigated carefully to determine if it fits the technical definition formulated by jurists and international organizations,” the Pontiff states in his work and reports the Europa Press agency.
The book, edited by journalist Hernán Reyes Alcaide (Edizioni Piemme), It will be published next Tuesday in Italy, Spain and Latin America and later also in other countries.
The Pope also refers to the issue of immigration: “We are becoming inhuman”. “No country can be left alone and no one can think of addressing the issue in isolation through more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes approved under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantages,” he warned.
On the contrary, in the face of the “globalization of indifference”, he defends the need to respond with the “globalization of charity and cooperation” so that the conditions of the emigrants “are humanized.”
Israel’s response
After these extracts from Francis’ book were made public, the Israeli Embassy to the Holy See was quick to respond. «October 7, 2023 was a genocidal massacre of Israeli citizens and, since then, Israel has exercised his right of self-defense against the attempts coming from seven different fronts to kill its population,” the diplomatic legation has written on its X account (formerly Twitter).
Keep going as soon as possible @vaticannews_it: “On October 7, 2023, there was a genocidal massacre of Israeli citizens and all the time Israel has exercised its own diritto di autodifesa contro i tentativi provenienti da sette diversi fronti di uccidere i suoi… https://t.co/Jwnu7MTIPd
— Israel in HolySee (@IsraelinHolySee) November 17, 2024
“Any attempt to define this self-defense by any other name means isolate the Jewish state», he continued.
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