By Theodore Shoebat
Pope Francis recently condemned the government of Israel for killing Palestinians and called for Israelis and Palestinians to have peace between each other. According to one report from Haaretz:
Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the killing of Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border, saying the deaths would only lead to more violence, and appealed for dialogue to bring justice and peace to the Middle East.
“I express my great pain for the dead and wounded and I am close in prayer and affection to all those who are suffering,” he told tens of thousands of people at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
“I repeat that the use of violence never leads to peace. War begets war and violence begets violence.”
Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border on Monday during demonstrations against the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, in the bloodiest day in Gaza in years.
Francis, who visited Israel and Palestinian territories in 2014, asked both sides and the international community to redouble efforts “so that dialogue, justice and peace prevail”.
Pope Francis also described what is happening in Jerusalem as an escalation of tensions. As we read in a report from Crux:
Pope Francis said he’s “very concerned” over the tensions in the Holy Land and the Middle East, which have reignited in recent days with the moving of the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem.
Announced late last year, this week President Donald Trump officially moved the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, causing protests among the Arab population both in Israel and Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians were injured on Monday, and local authorities say that at least 58 were killed by Israeli forces along the Gaza border.
“I am very concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Holy Land and in the Middle East, and for the spiral of violence that increasingly moves away from the path of peace, dialogue and negotiations,” Francis said at the end of his weekly Wednesday audience.