Pope Francis says Israeli-Hamas war
has escalated to 'terrorism'
Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Pope Francis called the war between Israel and Hamas "terrorism" as he appealed for prayers for the victims of the conflict as well as Ukraine on Wednesday.
The pontiff made the comments after meeting with families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian families suffering from Israel's retaliation. During his weekly General Audience on Wednesday at St. Peter's Square, he said the war was "ravaging the Holy Land."
"They suffer so much," the pope said. "I heard how they both suffer. Wars do that. But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war; this is terrorism."
Oct 7th was terrorism! Ever since then, it has been war. Israel warns Gazans before destroying a building so they have the opportunity to escape. That is not terrorism! In fact, that has never been done in war before.
Francis first met with the 12 members of the Israeli delegation at his residence in the Casa Santa Marta on Wednesday morning. He followed that by meeting with a 10-person Palestinian delegation at Paul VI Hall. The Palestinian delegation included Christians and Muslims.
He asked for people to pray for the victims of the war along with Ukrainians, who remain under attack by Russian forces.
"Let us pray for the Palestinian people, let us pray for the Israeli people, so that peace may come," the pope said. "[Pray] especially for the dear peoples of Ukraine, the tortured Ukraine."
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Susan Sarandon dropped by talent agency
after pro-Palestinian rally comments
A spokesperson for United Talent Agency (UTA), the group that signed Sarandon in 2014, on Tuesday told The Hollywood Reporter the agency would no longer be representing the Dead Man Walking actor.
Sarandon, 77, was dropped after she attended a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City’s Union Square on Nov. 17 and stood on the back of a truck to address the crowd of protesters.
“There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,” the Oscar winner told the crowd. “All over the world, all over the United States, people are questioning, people are standing up, people are educating themselves, people are stepping away from brainwashing that started when they were kids.”
Sarandon encouraged the crowd to “stand with anyone who has the courage to speak out in your office, in your school, in your homes.”
Sarandon thanked Jewish community members who were present at the New York rally and said they attended “to have our backs.”
Sarandon has been seen at multiple American pro-Palestinian rallies in the U.S. since conflict erupted on Oct. 7.
On that day, several thousand Hamas militants burst across the border into Israel, killing at least 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. Most of the dead were civilians, while the hostages include small children, women and seniors.
Israel responded with weeks of blistering airstrikes on Gaza, followed by a ground invasion that began over three weeks ago.
More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed during the Israeli offensive, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and militants, though Israel says thousands of Hamas militants have been killed.
Consequently, those numbers are greatly exaggerated like everything else that comes out of Hamas. They include 500 deaths that did not occur when a Palestinian Jihad missile errantly landed in a hospital parking lot killing between 20 and 50 people. Hamas spun the lie that it was an IDF missile that killed 500.
The Gaza Health Ministry has said at least 5,600 children have been confirmed killed in the Israeli bombardment, according to Reuters.
Again, consider the source! This is a great exaggeration. Show us the bodies!
On Tuesday, Palestinian officials said they can no longer count the dead due to the collapse of many regional health systems and the difficulty of retrieving bodies from areas overrun by Israeli tanks and troops. Verifying a death count has become increasingly difficult as Israel’s ground invasion has intensified and at times severed phone and internet service and sown chaos across the territory, The Associated Press reported.
Israel’s cabinet on Wednesday approved a temporary ceasefire with Hamas that is expected to bring the first halt in fighting in a devastating six-week conflict and win freedom for dozens of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip.
Melissa Barrera and others
Sarandon isn’t the only Hollywood actor to face backlash for their statements about the Israel-Hamas conflict.
On Tuesday, actor Melissa Barrera, the star of the fifth and sixth Scream movies, was fired from the upcoming Scream VII film after the project’s production company said her pro-Palestinian social media posts were antisemitic.
The production company Spyglass told Variety they fired Barrera, 33, because they have “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form.”
Though Spyglass did not point to any social media posts specifically, Barrera has made statements condemning Israel for “genocide and ethnic cleansing.”
In October, high-ranking Creative Artists Agency (CAA) agent Maha Dakhil resigned from an internal board after she reshared an Instagram post condemning Israel for “genocide,” Variety reported.
The post read, “You’re currently learning who supports genocide.”
Dakhil added a short sentence of her own, writing, “That’s the line for me.” Dakhil then posted another photo with the caption, “What’s more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening.”
Dakhil has since deleted the posts and has publicly apologized.
She also resigned from her duties as co-head of CAA’s motion pictures department.
Dakhil represents a number of celebrities, including Tom Cruise, Natalie Portman and Madonna.
— With files from The Associated Press
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