Pope Francis accused of Genocide Blood Libel against Israel

 

Far-Left people tend to think with their feelings rather than their intelligence. They become convinced that they are right even when they have crossed over the line from good to evil. Pope Francis is very close to that line, and if he crosses it, the Whore of Babylon will be right behind him. More evidence that we are in the End Times.

Israel Accuses Pope Francis of ‘Genocide Blood Libel

Against the Jewish State’

Dec 28, 2024 3:00 pm By Jules Gomes

Minister for combating antisemitism gives pontiff a robust history lesson on the Jewishness of Jesus.

Israel is rebuking Pope Francis for committing a “genocide blood libel against the Jewish state” and reminding the pontiff of the Vatican’s silence during the Nazi Holocaust amid an escalating diplomatic row between the Holy See and Israel.

In a strongly worded letter to the pontiff dated December 18, Amichai Chikli, minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, reprimands Francis for his part in a recent display portraying Jesus as a Palestinian Arab and schools the pope on the Jewishness of Jesus.

“There is no other way to understand the decision to present his image in a cradle, wrapped in a keffiyeh,” Chikli stresses. “Had this been a one-time matter, I would not have written. However, just a few weeks before this strange and false homage, in a more severe expression, you echoed the new blood libel, insinuating that the State of Israel ‘might be’ committing genocide in Gaza.

“It is a well-known fact that Jesus was born to a Jewish mother, lived as a Jew, and died as a Jew,” Chikli writes in his three-page missive. He cites Matthew’s gospel, reminding Francis of the “well-known fact” that “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.”

Lessons in Jewish and Roman History

Chikli quotes other biblical texts reiterating to Francis the significance of “Bethlehem” and “Judah” in Jewish history. He notes that Bethlehem is both the city of Rachel’s death and David’s birth, explaining that Rachel is Israel’s matriach and David is Israel’s archetypal king.

“It is also a well-known fact that the term ‘Jew’ originates from Judah, the fourth son of Leah, from whom the Tribe of Judah descended,” the minister points out.

Chikli proceeds to give the pope a lesson in Roman history and the empire’s attempts “to eradicate the connection between the Jews and Judah; one of the most prominent of these was Emperor Hadrian.” He records details of Titus’s destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kokhba Revolt, which resulted in the massacre of 580,000 Jews.

“Hadrian was not satisfied with the physical destruction of the Jewish settlement; he anticipated the future, to the day when the Jews would seek to return to Judea. Therefore, he renamed the province of Judea ‘Syria Palestina,’ after the Philistines, the arch-enemy of Israel,” he writes, explaining the origin of the name “Palestine.”

In a dig at Francis, Chikli also notes that the pope can verify the evidence for himself by driving just “13 minutes by car from St. Peter’s Basilica” and examining the Arch of Titus with its depiction of Israel’s conquest and humiliation by the Romans.

Papal Rewriting of History

Referring to the pope’s recent comments calling for an investigation into the alleged genocide in Gaza, reported by The Stream, the minister contends: “This is a desperate and disgusting attempt to rewrite history.”

“As a nation that lost six million of its sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are especially sensitive to the trivialization of the term ‘genocide’ — a trivialization that is dangerously close to Holocaust denial,” he notes.

Chikli details how the term “genocide” can be aptly applied to Nazi Germany, which “for the first time in the history of nations, set as its ultimate goal the complete annihilation of an unarmed people with whom it had no conflict, and most of whom were not even living in its territory.

“Let us recall that between the Jews, who made up less than 1% of the population of Germany in the 1930s, and the Germans, there had been no prior violent, territorial, religious, or political conflict,” he notes.Recalling the “sickening strategy” of the “Final Solution,” the minister cites as one example the Treblinka death camp, where 845,000 Jews from Poland, including children and elderly people, were murdered in gas chambers and then dumped into execution pits, concluding: “This is what genocide looks like.”

Vatican Silent During the Holocaust

“The Vatican’s silence during those dark days of the Shoah is still deafening,” he writes, asking Francis to “clarify your stand regarding the genocide blood libel against the Jewish state,” a “new blood libel” recently promoted against Israel by the human rights organization Amnesty.

Chikli concludes by drawing Francis’s attention to the the 60th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate Declaration from the Second Vatican Council, which will be celebrated in 2025. The declaration marked a “significant milestone in the relationship between the Jewish people and Christianity,” he maintains, noting that Francis is known to be “a close friend of the Jewish people.”

The Vatican has maintained a diplomatic silence on the minister’s letter, with neither Vatican News nor Avvenire, the Italian bishops’ media, reporting on it.

In response, the pope has doubled down on Israel since Chikli’s letter, twice in public remarks last weekend accusing the Jewish state of massacring children in Gaza.

Francis Falsely Claims Cardinal Banned from Gaza

On Saturday, in his annual Christmas greetings to the Roman curia, Francis claimed that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa “was not allowed into Gaza, as had been promised.”

“Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty. This is not war. I wanted to tell you this because it touches my heart,” the pope told members of the Vatican bureaucracy.

Citing the monk Dorotheus of Gaza, Francis added: “Yes, Gaza, the very place that is presently synonymous with death and destruction, is a quite ancient city, where monasteries and outstanding saints and teachers flourished in the first centuries of Christianity.”

However, a day later Vatican News confirmed that Pizzaballa had visited Gaza and presided at Mass as well as administered the sacrament of confirmation to several young people. The pope’s media did not refer to the Israeli ban on the cardinal’s visit to Gaza.

Instead, it acknowledged that “this is the second time that Cardinal Pizzaballa has managed to enter Gaza and visit the community led by the parish priest Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, following his visit on 16 May last.

“To ensure maximum security on the route, news of the visit was only given after arrival in the community,” Vatican News explained, hinting at the possibility that the pontiff may have been misinformed about Pizzaballa’s visit to Gaza.

The Holy See mouthpiece also confirmed that the Latin Patriarch “will make his solemn entry into Bethlehem, where he will be welcomed by another suffering community and where he will celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St. Catherine’s Church,” debunking rumors that Israel was restricting Pizzaballa’s visits to his Catholic flock in Judea and Samaria or the Gaza strip.

Undaunted, in his Angelus address at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Francis attacked Israel again, stating: “And with sorrow I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty; of the children machine-gunned, the bombing of schools and hospitals… So much cruelty!”

Severing Jesus from His Jewish Roots

Commentators previously slammed the de-Judaization of Jesus under the Francis pontificate.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen), a holocaust denier and terrorism sponsor whom Francis warmly welcomed to the Vatican on December 12 as The Stream reported, has redefined Jesus as “a Palestinian messenger” of hope in his 2023 Christmas address. Palestinian officials have also described Jesus as “the first Palestinian martyr,” and as a Palestinian jihadist.

“In the story of Christmas, Christ was born in modern-day Palestine under the threat of a government engaged in a massacre of innocents,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat activist and politician, posted on social media on Christmas 2023.

“Rewriting history that Jesus wasn’t a Jewish resident of the Jewish country of Judea but rather a Palestinian man who was persecuted by Jews is gaining ground around the world, including in the Vatican,” international relations expert Dr. Yvette Alt Miller wrote in response to the Vatican featuring Jesus on a keffiyeh.

“Jesus was a Jew. If he were alive today, the world’s elites would be clamoring for him to be thrown out of Judea as a settler,” wrote British columnist Melanie Phillips in 2015, after the Vatican agreed to recognize Palestine as a state. “And Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, would be amongst them.”

Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral. This article was cross-posted with the author’s permission from The Stream.

A Christian Crisis in Gaza and the West Bank

War on Christianity in the Middle East is mostly Islamic driven

..

In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox

By JPOST EDITORIAL 

Palestinians light Christmas tree in Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, November 30, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS/MUSSA QAWASMA)

As Christians celebrate Christmas around the world, it’s worthwhile to focus on the Christian population in the region.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, there are some 177,000 Christians in Israel, a growth of 1.5% from last year. More than three-quarters (77.5%) of Christians living in Israel are Arabs, representing 7.2% of all Arab Israeli citizens, the CBS said. The majority of non-Arab Christians living in Israel immigrated together with Jewish family members under the Law of Return.

Contrast these data with the figures in a report published by then-British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in July. The report found that the number of Christians in the Middle East has dwindled from 20% of the population a century ago to just 5% – most notably in the Palestinian territories, where they have dropped to below 1.5%.

“We’ve all been asleep on the watch when it comes to

the persecution of Christians,”  Hunt said.

The organization Open Doors put “the Palestinian Territories” in 49th place – out of 50 – on its World Watch List, an annual report on the global persecution of Christians. The report cited “Islamic oppression” as the main source of persecution, adding that “Islamic extremist militants are also present in the West Bank, causing Christians to fear being attacked,” and that the persecution is particularly brutal for converts to Christianity.

At least three incidents have affected Christians living under Palestinian Authority rule this year, according to a report by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies: A mob targeted the Christian village of Jifna near Ramallah, causing significant property damage and terrifying its residents, and a Maronite church in Bethlehem and an Anglican church near Ramallah were vandalized.

“Though the Christians in the PA avoid saying so publicly, many of them fear – with good reason – that Muslim aggression against them will only escalate,” wrote Edy Cohen, a researcher at the center. “Such fears are all the stronger in light of the thunderous silence of the Western [and Israeli] media, in the face of the Christian minority’s ongoing disappearance from the PA and Islamic lands in general.”

He added, pointedly, that “the ongoing international neglect of the plight of the Christians under PA rule can only lead to the vanishing of Christianity from the place where it emerged.”

In the Gaza Strip, the Christian population has plummeted from about 3,000 a decade ago to an estimated 1,000 today, most of them Greek Orthodox.

On Sunday, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) reversed a decision made earlier this month, making the welcome announcement that in accordance with “security orders,” Gaza Christians would be allowed to travel to the holy cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and elsewhere in Judea and Samaria, for Christmas.

The situation of Christians in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, has deteriorated dramatically in the last century, and especially since the PA took control of the city in 1995. In 1947, Christians comprised about 85% of the city’s population, but that figure had plunged to 16% by 2016, and is estimated since then.

Bethlehem’s mayor at the time said that, “Due to the stress – either physical or psychological – and the bad economic situation, many people are emigrating: either Christians or Muslims, but it is more apparent among Christians because they already are a minority.”

A study by the Pew Research Center found that the decline in the Arab Christian population was both a result of a lower birth rate among Christians compared to Muslims and the fact that Christians were more likely to emigrate than any other religious group. A statistical analysis of the Christian exodus cited a lack of economic and educational opportunities among a community known for its middle-class status and higher education.

Christianity is the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 2.4 billion adherents (almost a third of the world’s 7.8 billion people). While it may seem ironic that the only place in the Middle East where Christians are thriving is the Jewish state, it is also a cause for concern. 

We wish our Christian readers a happy Christmas – and pray along with them for those undergoing persecution for practicing their faith.

Israel is the Legal Occupant of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, Rules the Court of Appeal of Versailles

A groundbreaking ruling that was “forgotten” by the media is now surfacing. Israel’s just presence in Judea and Samaria is coming to light. 

This groundbreaking ruling by a French court was given in 2013, but somehow escaped the media’s awareness.

A pro Israel activist has worked to bring this “old news” to light, because of its outmost significance.

“I decided to put to work my years of Law Studies in France, and I meticulously analyzed the Court ruling,” Jean-Patrick Grumberg wrote.

The following is an analysis of the dramatic court proceedings and their significance:

In a historical trial, the 3rd Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Versailles declared in 2013 that Israel is the legal occupant of Judea and Samaria.

The Court of Appeal of Versailles ruled that Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria is unequivocally legal under international law, dismissing a suit brought by the Palestinian Authority (PA) against Jerusalem’s light rail built by French companies Alstom and Veolia

To rule on the suit, the Court of Appeals had to determine the legal rights of Palestinians and Israelis in the region. Their conclusion was that the Palestinians have no right – in the international legal sense – to the region, unlike Israel, who is legitimately entitled to all land beyond the 67 line.

The story goes back to the ’90s, when Israel began work for the construction of the Jerusalem light rail. The tender was won by French companies Veolia and Alstom. The light rail was completed in 2011, and it crosses Jerusalem all the way through the city.

Following this, the PLO filed a complaint with the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Versailles France, against Alstom and Veolia, because according to PLO, the construction of the tram was illegal since the United Nations (UN0, the European Union (EU) and other governments consider Israel’s presence there illegal.

In order to rule whether the light rail’s construction was legal or not, the court had to review the texts of international law and examine international treaties in order to establish the respective legal rights of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Unprecedented Ruling

This is the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 that an independent, non-Israeli court has been called upon to examine the legal status of Judea and Samaria under international law, beyond the political claims of the parties.

While the Court’s findings have no effect in international law, they do have the utmost importance, which is to clarify the legal reality.

The Versailles Court of Appeal’s conclusions are resounding: Israel has real rights in Judea and Samaria, its decision to build a light rail in Jerusalem or anything else in the area is legal, and the judges rejected all the arguments presented by the Palestinians.

The PLO claimed that Israel’s presence in the area was illegal according to international treaties and that that the light rail construction has resulted in the destruction of Palestinian buildings and houses, and has conducted many illegal dispossessions. Therefore, several clauses from the annexed Regulations to the October 18, 1907 Fourth Hague Convention were violated.

The Court of Appeal rejected all the Palestinian arguments.

Referring to the texts on which the PLO claim is based, the Court of Appeal considers that Israel is entitled to ensure order and public life in the region, and therefore Israel has the right to build a light rail, infrastructure and dwellings.

The Court explained that the PA misinterpreted the texts and they do not apply to Israel presence in Judea and Samaria.

All the international instruments put forward by the PLO were acts signed between states, and the obligations or prohibitions contained therein are relevant to states. Neither the PA nor the PLO are states, and therefore, none of these legal documents apply to them.

Likewise, the Court showed that these texts are binding only on those who signed them, namely the contracting parties. Neither the PLO nor the PA have ever signed these texts.

The Court, quite irritated by the arguments presented by the PA, boldly asserted that the law cannot be based solely on the PLO’s assessment of a political or social situation.

The Court of Appeal therefore sentenced the PLO and Association France Palestine Solidarité (AFPS), who was co-appellant, to pay 30,000 euros ($32,000) to Alstom, 30,000 euros to Alstom Transport and 30,000 euros to Veolia Transport.

Neither the PLO nor the Palestinian Authority nor the AFPS appealed to the Supreme Court, and therefore the judgment became final.

This is the first time that a Court has legally destroyed all Palestinian legal claim that Israel’s occupation is illegal.

By: Jean-Patrick Grumberg for www.Dreuz.info

3 Days, 4 Jews Murdered - Palestinians Celebrate

Palestinians are not only hate-filled murderers,

they're downright stupid

Palestinians celebrate the murder of Jewish couple

Throngs of Palestinians took to the streets on Thursday night to celebrate the brutal slaying of an Israeli couple in a shooting attack in the West Bank.

The festivities included the launching of fireworks and the waving of flags in the streets, Ofir Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Gendelman posted on Twitter a photo of the scene. Most of the flying banners were of the Palestinian Fatah faction, the armed wing of which claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Eitam and Naama Henkin. Revelers in Nablus, near the site of the shooting, set off fireworks, he said, adding that Palestinians on social media networks were “ecstatic” about the killings.

The Henkins, who were in their early 30s, were shot dead on Thursday night in northern Samaria while travelling in their vehicle near the Palestinian village of Beit Furik. Paramedics found them at the scene with bullet wounds to their torsos. Their four children, who were in the backseat of the car, were unharmed. The couple was buried on Har Hamenuchot in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem on Friday morning.

Young couple, murdered by Palestinians, leave four children orphans 

Leading members of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, Azzam Al-Ahmad and General Sultan Abu Al-Einen, praised the attack, Gendelman said. He added that General Al-Einen, who serves as Abbas’ adviser on NGOs, called for more attacks on Israelis.

Rival Palestinian terror group Hamas also applauded the attack. Spokesman Husam Badran congratulated Palestinians on the killings and referred to the shooting as a “heroic operation.”

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Peter Lerner said on Thursday that the IDF will deploy four battalions in the West Bank to prevent an escalation of violence and to search for the gunmen. He called the incident a “ruthless, heinous barbaric attack.”

15 year old Moshe Malka stabbed by Palestinian

A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli teen outside Jerusalem’s Old City early Sunday morning, in the second such attack in the past day.

The suspected assailant was reportedly shot dead by Israeli security forces.

The 15-year-old victim, later named as Moshe Malka, was moderately injured and received treated on site by paramedics. He was taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Hospital in stable condition with wounds to the chest and back.

The attack took place near the Old City’s Damascus Gate.

Israeli Police and the body of Palestinian terrorist

The attacker reportedly fled the scene after stabbing the teen. A video posted online appeared to show him several hundred yards from the site of the attack, on the light rail tracks, where he was shot by police officers.

Hamas media identified the suspected stabber as Fadi Aloon, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya. In a Facebook post from an account attributed to Aloon he expressed his intent to become a martyr (shahid) and entreated God to forgive for his sins.

Good luck with that!!!

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had just taken off for Israel around the time of the stabbing early Sunday morning, told reporters that Israel would “launch a severe offensive against Palestinian terrorism.”

Palestinians living in Israel have it far, far better than those living in Gaza, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon or anywhere else. But they seem determined to destroy that and make everyone's life miserable.

He was set to travel directly to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv upon his arrival in Israel on Sunday, and convene a security cabinet meeting to discuss the spike in terrorist attacks.

Sunday’s early morning stabbing came just hours after Nehemia Lavi and Aharon Bennett were killed in a terrorist attack in the Old City on Saturday night, and Benet’s wife and child were injured.

The Palestinian terrorist was identified as Muhanad Shafeq Halabi, 19, from al-Bireh, near Ramallah in the West Bank. He was shot dead by police.

Benet’s wife was in serious condition and their two-year-old baby was lightly wounded. The mother was taken to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and is undergoing surgery. The toddler was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment where he remains in stable condition.

Just two days earlier on Thursday night, two Israelis were shot dead in their car in the West Bank in a terrorist attack claimed by the Fatah movement’s armed wing.

In response to the attacks, Israel Police limited entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem to Israeli citizens, business owners, residents and tourists for the next two days. Entrance for Muslim worshippers was limited to men over the age of 50, and access was limited the Lion’s Gate, closest to the Temple Mount.

Caroline Glick: Annex Judea and Samaria Now

Journalist and writer Caroline Glick says Israel should respond to America's new policy by applying sovereignty to Judea and Samaria.

By Yoni Kempinski and Elad Benari
Arutz Sheva

Journalist and writer Caroline Glick, author of the book "The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East", says Israel should annex Judea and Samaria now, in response to President Barack Obama’s statements that the United States will “re-evaluate” its support for Israel at the United Nations.

Seeing as Obama is planning to change American policy and “force Israel into completely indefensible borders”, Glick told Arutz Sheva, “the time has come for Israel to come out with an alternative policy, and the alternative policy that we have to put out is applying Israeli law and sovereignty to Judea and Samaria”.

“The question couldn’t be more urgent,” said Glick, whose book deals with this very issue and of which a Hebrew edition was recently published.

“The government has got to put forward a new policy regarding the Palestinians,” she continued. “The two states failed, we all know it, [and] we can’t resurrect it because it wasn’t we that made it fail.”

“The world doesn’t like us now,” Glick pointed out when asked about the world’s reaction if Israel does indeed annex Judea and Samaria. “We’re in a situation now where all the things they said will happen to us if we do X, Y, or Z are happening to us now when we’re saying, ‘No, no, no, we’ll support the establishment of a Palestinian state in Israel’s heartland.”

Israel is facing a “mass of hostility from the Western world”, she said and, as such, “we have to put forward something that we can stand behind and push forward in the face of this hostility.”

Not sure I agree with, or even understand her reasoning, but it is certainly an intriguing idea. It is liable to cause a huge uproar at the UN which has recently decided to fly the Palestinian flag - the only flag without a country. It may very well precipitate Obama's abandoning Israel, as I have been predicting for years would happen. As soon as that happens, Israel will be attacked.