CATHOLIC LEADER REJECTS ISRAEL'S JEWISH IDENTITY

Catholic leader rejects Israel's Jewish identity (YNet) (Hat tip: Geoff Berg)
Israel's identity as a Jewish state discriminates against non-Jews, its top Roman Catholic clergyman said in a pre-Christmas address on Wednesday in Jerusalem.

''If there's a state of one religion, other religions are naturally discriminated against,'' Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told reporters at the annual press conference he holds in Jerusalem before Christmas. In his address, which he read in Arabic and English, Sabbah said Israel should abandon its Jewish character in favor of a ''political, normal state for Christians, Muslims and Jews.''

Sabbah denounced Israel's demand to be recognized as a Jewish state by the Palestinians and said "God made this land for all three of us, so a suitable state is one who can adapt itself to the vocation of this land.

''This land cannot be exclusive for anyone,'' he said, adding that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had unleashed "forces of evil" across the Middle East and that it was Israel's obligation, as to end the warring. "The one who will decide is Israel. If Israel decides for peace, there will be peace… Until now, there has been no peace, simply because there has been no willingness to make it."

Sabbah expressed hope for peace in the Holy Land and urged both sides to shun violence, whether "carried out by the state or by extremists".

Arye Mekel, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, said Israel provides full religious freedom to people of all faiths. ''We reject his claim that other religions are not enjoying equal rights in Israel,'' Mekel said.

Israel has long pointed out that other countries call themselves Islamic republics and are not criticized.

Sabbah, who has been the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem since 1987, is the first Palestinian to hold the post and is frequently critical of Israel.

He also lashed out at Israel for visa restrictions he said were unfair to Christian clergy.

Geoff's commentary:

I love this story. The Palestinian Catholic who leads the church in Jerusalem says that for Israel to be an officially Jewish state is discriminatory against Christians and Muslims. Again, this is the representative of the Vatican, which is a state and has, if I am not mistaken, an official religion.

Interesting also that he doesn't criticize Saudi Arabia where he would be executed if he practiced Catholicism.

Why can't the Arabs just go back to being honest? It's not having and official religion that bothers them, it's that the official religion is Judaism. They don't want Israel to exist at all. They have no problem with Turkey, Jordan or Morocco's official religions. Hypocrites.

SEE ALSO: Vatican's Envoy Threatens to Boycott Shoah Ceremony

VATICAN SAYS TIES WITH ISRAEL WORSENING

Diplomat: 'Vatican-Israeli ties worsening' (JPost)
A senior Vatican diplomat who served as papal envoy to Israel has described Vatican-Israeli relations as worsening, blaming Israel for failing to keep promises related to church land, taxes and travel restrictions on Arab clergy.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi lashed out at Israel in an interview posted Friday on Terrasanta.net, an online publication about the Holy Land.

"If I must be frank, the relations between the Catholic Church and the state of Israel were better when there were no diplomatic ties," said Sambi, interviewed earlier in the week in Washington, where he now serves as Pope Benedict XVI's envoy to the United States.

"The Holy See decided to establish diplomatic relations (in 1993) with Israel as an act of faith, leaving to latter the serious promises to regulate concrete aspects of the life of the Catholic community and the Church" in Israel, Sambi said.

Among the issues hanging are the status of expropriated church property, services that Catholic groups perform for Israel's Jewish and Arab population, and tax exemptions for the Church.  The Vatican diplomat also cited a current sore point - the granting of permits for Arab Christian clergy traveling to and around the West Bank.

Israel has rescinded some travel privileges for those clergy because of security concerns.  Israel and the Palestinian territories are home to a small Christian minority.

Sambi complained that the Knesset has failed to give necessary approval to various accords that had been signed by both sides, and noted that an impasse over taxes has been discussed on and off for nearly 10 years without resolution.

He blamed the situation on Israel's "absence of political will." "Everyone can see what kind of trust you can give to Israel's promises," Sambi said.

VATICAN TO SKIP HOLOCAUST CEREMONY

Vatican to skip Yad Vashem ceremony (JPost)
The Vatican ambassador to the Holy Land said Thursday that he would not attend the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day state ceremony at Yad Vashem because of a caption at the Holocaust Museum that referred to Pope Pius XII's controversial role during World War Two.

"I will attend any ceremony on the victims of WWII, but I do not feel at ease at Yad Vashem when the Pope is presented in this way," Monsignor Antonio Franco said in a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post. He added that if nothing were done to change the caption he would "not feel comfortable" attending the ceremony.

The Vatican ambassador called his unprecedented decision not to attend the Sunday evening official state ceremony at Yad Vashem a "personal" one, and said that it had been made after museum officials failed to respond to a request last year to change the caption.

The caption, which first appeared when the new Holocaust Museum was inaugurated at Yad Vashem in 2005, states that the Pope's reaction to the murder of the Jews during the Holocaust was controversial.

In a statement, Yad Vashem voiced "shock and disappointment" that the Vatican's delegate to Israel chose not to respect the memory of the Holocaust by refusing to participate in the official ceremony in which the state of Israel and the Jewish people commemorate the victims, saying that the move contradicted the current pope's statement during his visit to Yad Vashem about the importance of remembering the Holocaust and its victims. "It is inconceivable to use diplomatic pressures on an issue of historical research," the statement read. ....

The role of the Holocaust-era Pope has long been controversial.

"In 1933, when he was Secretary of the Vatican State, he was active in obtaining a Concordat with the German regime to preserve the Church's rights in Germany, even if this meant recognizing the Nazi racist regime," the controversial caption reads.

"When he was elected Pope in 1939, he shelved a letter against racism and anti-Semitism that his predecessor had prepared. Even when reports about the murder of Jews reached the Vatican, the Pope did not protest either verbally or in writing. In December 1942, he abstained from signing the Allied declaration condemning the extermination of the Jews. When Jews were deported from Rome to Auschwitz, the Pope did not intervene.

"The Pope maintained his neutral position throughout the war, with the exception of appeals to the rulers of Hungary and Slovakia towards its end. His silence and the absence of guidelines obliged Churchmen throughout Europe to decide on their own how to react."