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Vatican deplores Israeli attack on Lebanon
Jul. 14 (CWNews.com) – The Holy See has protested Israel’s air raids on Lebanon, condemning both terrorist acts and reprisals that violate national sovereignty and strike at innocent civilians.
With Pope Benedict XVI (bio – news) on vacation in the Italian Alps, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano (bio – news), read a public statement on Vatican Radio. That statement was released promptly by the Vatican press office on July 14.
Cardinal Sodano said that the Holy Father was carefully following news of the latest developments in the Middle East, “which risk degenerating into a conflict with international repercussions.”
“As in the past, the Holy See also condemns both the terrorist attacks on the one side and the military reprisals on the other,” he continued.” He argued that Israel’s right to self-defense “does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations.”
“In particular,” the statement continued, “the Holy See deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation.”
Cardinal Sodano concluded his brief statement with a renewed appeal for an end to armed struggle and a renewal of negotiations.
Israeli air strikes beginning on July 12 have killed at least 60 Lebanese this week, and wounded more than 150. The strategic bombing struck at the infrastructure of the country: disabling power plants, destroying bridges, and severing major highways. Meanwhile from their quarters in Lebanon, Hezbollah guerillas launched a series of rocket attacks on targets inside Israel.
It takes no great effort at investigation to know that many Palestinians and others in the region wish that Israel did not exist. They have told us so, again and again. Many of them saw the encroachment of European Jews into Palestine as a situation similar to the whites that once governed South Africa under apartied. Indeed, Israel developed their atom bomb with South Africa and sold their diamonds when the rest of the world boycotted them. I knew a Catholic Palestinian who had land taken from him that had been in the family for 400 years. Jewish settlers benefited at what he saw as theft and for a time he lived among the few Catholics and the many Moslems in a resettlement camp (behind barbed wire). Oddly enough, it was a common oppression that moved Arafat to see Christian Palestinians as brothers against a common foe. Some have tried to make the analogy with settlers in our country (Manifest Destiny) and the plight of native Americans (Indians). Zionism was defined by the United Nations as a form of racism; although the United States has repeatedly rejected such an interpretation. In the early days, and against the occupying British, the Jews wanting to make Palestine into their homeland resorted to tactics similar to those used by Islamic extremists today: assasination and bombings.
I am no apologist for the Palestinians, and definitely not for the Hezbollah and the Hamas; however, I could not in good conscience defend everything the Israeli Jews do, either. Yes, Israel is our best friend in the region, but an expensive price-tag has come with that affiliation. They have even spied against us, and still we treat them like the 51st state in the union. Soldiers get kidnapped and bombs kill the innocent. However, when the Israelis respond they target heads of government and innocent civilians. Look at the rising death toll in Lebanon. President Bush asked them to restrain themselves, knowing how fragile the democracy is there, but “an eye-for-an-eye” is their thinking, and they kill high numbers to avenge a few.
Lebanon has a high number of Christians, notably Catholics. It has no standing army other than its police force. They are an easy target for all concerned. Syria is poised to enter the conflict and Iran will probably follow. Cynics might say that our intervention in Iraq was an effort to protect Israel and to fight their war for them (note how Liberman became a close but ironic bedfellow with Bush over the war). Now, given the proximity of our presence, we might be drawn into the first real World War of the third millennium. Fundamentalist Protestants are gabbing about the anti-Christ and are the chief proponents for Israel among conservatives: they see the land grab and restoration of Israel as a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The Catholic Church rejects such a view. The new Zion or Israel or Jerusalem is the Catholic Church, not the secular state of Israel.
We must be careful of simplistic and one-sided views on what is going on in the Middle East. I agree with you about many things, but I cannot join your dissent with the Vatican on Israel’s attack on the sovereign nation of Lebanon. Israel could have asked for a UN peace force to enter Lebanon or a host of other avenues of conduct. There was not as much recent diplomacy about this as you would infer. Sodano is correct that Israel often attacks indiscriminately and kills innocent civilians. They do not have the capacity nor the will to pinpoint their bombs as we do in Iraq. I would also warn that when we characterize the other side as vermin that need killing, we become guilty of the same kind of dehumanization that excuses the extermination of whole peoples. Such a holocaust once visited upon the Jews should not, in turn, be exercised against others.
Recognition of Israel by the Vatican was a long time in coming, and precisely for the reasons we are seeing actualized today. Catholic Palestinians and Lebanese will also be targeted and will fall victim to such Israeli aggression. You might not like to hear this. You may even be lamenting that Father Joe is a no good liberal in disguise or a bleeding heart. Maybe I am, but then I think of two other bleeding hearts, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Keep in mind that not every conservative perspective in politics or advanced by the Republican party may reflect Catholic faith and social theology. Not all Moslems are monsters and not all Jews are innocent and trustworthy.
But, we are all sinners. I pray that Lebanon will be able to preserve their hard won freedom and democracy.
POSTSCRIPT:
Israeli attacks into Lebanon will not end the violence, but only proliferate it. Some estimates are that Israel has between 100 to 200 nuclear warheads. Pray they do not use them.
Another story in pictures:
Let me clarify that when I used the term vermin I was referring to terrorists, suicide bombers, radical clerics who call for murder, etc. I did not mean the entire Palestinian or Arab people. There are peaceful arabs. However, I think that this is in spite of Islam, not because of it.
My point is that we are not negotiating with a sane or trustwotrhy lot. The purveyors of terror are evil and will not stop short of being killed. We saw this with Al-Zarquawi, Hitler, etc. Madmen rarely stop, have a revelatiom, and turn into level headed trustworthy negotiators. To hope for any kind of lasting peace wtih the people short of their defeat, is naive.
Although I don’t agree wtih the Vatican’s stance here, I do think Pope Benedict was moving in the right direction very recently. He is beginning to demand reciprocation from muslims regarding religious tolerance in their nations. Soon he will see that these calls for reciprocation will continue to be utterly ignored and will hopefully begin to realize that the problem with the arabs is Islam, which by it’s very nature treats all infidels as lesser creatures and second class citizens.
I will now post my response to Fr.Joe’s comments that I had posted on my blog…
Fr. Joe,
Of course I respect your opinion and thank you for posting. I’d like to make some comments in response.
Regardless of the history of the region, the bottom line, in my view, is that Israel is now a sovereign nation. How the state of Israel came about may be disagreed with by many people, however that does not give these people the right to commit terrorism.
You spoke of your Palestinian friend who was made to give up his land. The Israeli government displaced their own people and even dug up and relocated grave sites in Gaza in order to give in to UN demands to placate the Palestinians. What did Israel get in return? Rockets in Haifa.
As for Arafat, the man was one of the chief terrorists and shysters of our time. He was an opportunist who cared nothing except for his own power and eliminating Israel. If he ever claimed to see Christian Palestinians as brothers it was a facade to help build PR.
I do not believe Arafat cared a bit about even his own people much less Christians. If he did he would have accepted Israel’s offer to give him 90% of what he wanted in the 90’s.
As for civilian casualties, Israel has dropped leaflets to the populous leting them know what areas will be bombed and giving them a chance to evacuate. Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists have no need to warn innocent civilians in Israel of their attacks since they are most always the targets.
As for Lebanon, Israel is asking that UN troops be placed along it’s border with them as was supposed to have been done under UN resolution long ago. It’s in part due to UN inaction and treating arab terrorist nations with kid gloves that this situation has arisen.
I can’t see how Lebanon has clean hands knowingly harboring a terrorist group. If they felt they did not have the resources they needed they should have asked for them from the U.N. or elsewhere.
Even Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have criticized Hezbollah in this entire affair. The sinister backers of Hezbollah and other agents of terror are Syria and Iran. If these two want to come out of hiding and get into this scrap, I say let them. Especially before Iran develops nukes.
Radical Islam needs to be defeated once and for all. I see two paths. One path includes continued inaction, hundreds of more years of violence, bombings, assassinations and terrorism.
The other road is a war where Syria and Iran are conquered and liberated and militant terrorists are hunted down, killed, and disarmed. Then and only then can peace begin.
Neville Chaimberlain and his followers hoped that appeasement, negotiation, and a naive hope in the goodness of the Nazi’s would bring about peace in his time. He was of course wrong.
What he failed to realize, and what the Vatican fails to realize now, is that we are dealing with pure evil. Evil does not negotiate and cannot be trusted if it does.
Nobody wanted to have to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives in WWII, but would the Nazi’s have ceased to exist any other way? How much longer could Europe have sat by and appeased and negotiated with Hitler? If they did what would the world look like today?
Yes war is a horrible thing and nobody wants to have to go through it. However it is not us or Israel who is choosing to go to war. It is radical Islam through their never ending terrorism, violence, and repeated breaking and disregard for any peace deals.
In my view it is time it all came to a head and the new Hitlers in Syria and Iran as well as their henchmen in the Middle East were defeated just like the Nazi’s in the 40’s. Otherwise how many more 9/11’s will we have to suffer and how many more suicide bombing will Israel have to suffer before we wake up?
Of course I do not think all Muslims are evil just as I believe not all Germans in the 1940’s were evil. However I do believe that Arab terrorist groups and their harboring states must be defeated for peace to finally reign in the Middle East. Appeasement has never worked, nor will it work here.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
You compare freedom fighters to terrorists!
You are a Jew hater.
How can you take the side of those who oppose God’s plan to restore the Chosen People to their homeland? I do not care how long Palestinians were in the Holy Land, they were the usurpers! Just as God commanded his people to eradicate the ancient Canaanites, so too must Israel exterminate the Palestian and Moslem vermin! And yes, I mean ALL of them!
It was a mistake for Israel to trade land for peace. There can be no peace. The biblical borders of Israel and Judah must be restored.
The Lebanese are a weak people. If they will not take action against Israel’s enemies, then Israel will. That is the bottomline.
You show pictures of “poor” Palestinians, but what about the hundreds of innocent Israeli people wounded and killed by suicide bombers? You mimic the voice of the Vatican which evidently seeks a return to the anti-semitic policies of the past. Given the complicity of the Church in the holocaust, the Vatican has some nerve passing judgment on Israel!
The “Insight on the Issues” blog is right on the money. There can be no peace with the Arab or Palestinian. The only solution is eradication and extermination. They are pests, like rodents, and the world will be better off when they are gone. A majority voted the Hamas into power. That means the majority of Palestinians is guilty. They will get what they deserve for voting to empower a group of criminals pledged to Israel’s destruction.
Islam is a monotheistic religion that acknowledges the total sovereignty of Almighty God.
President Bush tried to explain that the word, “Islam,” means PEACE. This is true but inadequate. It means SUBMISSION TO GOD. The only way to properly submit to God (Allah) is to become a Muslim.
Muhammad is the “seal of the prophets” and the QUR’AN (our Holy Book) is the completion of the series revelations received by Christians and Jews.
Allah has given us his law and we are obliged to fulfill our duties, the 5 Pillars of Faith:
1. SHAHADA (recitation of creed);
2. SALAT (daily prayer);
3. ZAKAT (almsgiving);
4. SAWM (fasting); and
5. HAJ (pilgrimage).
CREED & PRAYER
We pray throughout the day after ablutions for purification: at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset and nightfall. We face Mecca when we pray. When possible men pray in a MOSQUE with an IMAM (prayer leader); such is required on Friday (the holy day). The recitation of the Shahada and daily prayer are closely aligned.
FASTING
During RAMADAN (the ninth month of the Muslim calendar), we fast during the daylight hours in remenbrance of God’s revelation coming to Muhammad.
PILGRIMAGE
All Muslims should try to reach the holy city of MECCA at least once. Special rituals are conducted there during the 12th month of the lunar calendar.
ALMSGIVING
As for almsgiving, we give to the poor. In some places a Mosque will tax members and give to the needy in fulfillment of this obligation. This is similar to special collections taken up by churches.
I mention these pillars to give you a needed lesson. Those who follow these practices without compromise are the ones you call vermin. However, the West has lost its soul. Christianity with all its corruptions would leave you in a better state than the godless secularism and materialism that possesses you.
You condemn us but we believe in God. What do you believe in?
Most Christians do not attend their churches and rarely if ever pray. They give to charities when there is a tidy tax-exemption, but otherwise, especially among Republicans, condemn the working poor. How much do you make a year, $50,000, $90,000, more? Do you tithe ten percent or more to your churches, like they ask you? I bet you do not. Your pope preaches peace, but you only listen to him when it is convenient for you. I sometimes think we Muslims take the bishop of Rome more seriously than his own flock!
Abortion is illegal in Muslim countries, can you say the same? No! You murder your own children. A few of our women and children join the martyrs in witnessing for our faith and freedom. And they are driven by no selfish aim, something you cannot claim.
We will not have to fight you in the battlefield. Our seed is already planted in your cities and towns. You have no children and we have dozens. Given time, you will be the minority. The crusaders came and left, and we were still there. The British came and left, and we were still there. And I assure you, when the Jews and the white Americans are long gone, we will still be here.
Who knows, maybe one day instead of a bishop in Rome, we will talk of the Vatican as the home to the world’s chield Imam? France is already ours and America will be the “United Islamic States.” The rest of the world will follow. Then the world will know peace, and all will obey and praise Allah!
How dare you! The post does not go far enough in detailing the crimes of the Jews and how they oppress the Palestinians. The two commentators here, Steve and Shia are both blatant apologists for the Jews.
The people you call “radical clerics” are our most favored leaders and they represent the true face of Islam. That tranquilized and sanitized version that we see here in Canada and the States is an aberration. I suppose you might say that the few sedated Muslims of the West are like your Protestants while the true Islam that refuses to play dead is like the Catholics. One is the real deal and the other is the shadow. Catholic support for the rights and autonomy of Islamic peoples has earned much respect from our leaders, although we cannot have peace until Israel and its military aggression is neutralized.
This “Steve” writes that true arabs want peace, not because of Islam, but in spite of it. This is a slur against all true believers in the one God and who confess that Muhammad is his prophet. You say that we are not sane or trustworthy. How sane are you? You have nuclear weapons, indeed, the U.S. remains the only nation that has ever used them against an enemy, and yet you would ban other nations like Iran from developing them. You do not play fair. You turn a blind eye to Israel’s weapons of mass destruction but take the arab world to task for wanting to defend itself. The Israelis say they will give us land for peace, but they miss the point when they try to strip us of our dignity.
You call the preveyors of terror, “evil”. However, such terrorists were praised in France when they opposed the German occupation. You are the ones who are madmen. What about your own history. The Boston Tea Party and other acts of destruction was also a kind of terrorism. What is wrong with you? The Jews themselves used terror against the British to steal Palestine from its rightful owners. The use of terror is only wrong from the perspective of the side being terrorized. Can you not accept that the U.S. is not always right?
Why are you so concerned about things half a world away from you? If you like the Zionist Israeli Jews so much, then why don’y you give them Nevada or Montana or some other underpopulated state? They would be safe and we could return to our homes in peace. Of course, they already seem to own New York, Hollywood and Washington, DC.
I want to finish with a prayer:
O God, strengthen Islam and Muslims, humiliate infidelity and infidels, destroy Islam’s enemies, and grant safety to Muslims’ countries. O God, give success to our steadfast leaders. O God, help mujahidin in Palestine score victory over the tyrant Jews. A feverish, unfair, and sinful campaign is now targeting Islam and Prophet Muhammad. Help us to refute these lies, to stop these feverish campaigns, and to expose Jewish and Christian extremists supporting the usurper Israel and those standing behind this unjust campaign. Zionist Jews are spreading tyranny and corruption, killing and displacing people, and destroying property. O God, destroy them, for they are within your power.
Omar M. Jackson, you are very insane and ignorant. You are obsessed with the world being controlled by Islam! That will never happen, I will fight for my freedom in that case. As for father Joe, this is all lies and ignorance! The JEWISH (rightfully JEWISH) state of Israel is not as savage and evil as you claim. You are a [expletive deleted] to call Zionism racism. People have been insanely evil to Jews, yet you call them the evil ones! [expletive deleted] you! Your lies and [expletive deleted] are worthless [expletive deleted] you to [expletive deleted]!
Omar, your [expletive deleted] that you call a prayer, G-d would never do such a thing. The real Muslim G-d would be peaceloving. You are a [expletive deleted]. Die!
Israel like arabe peaceful who accept letting them do what ever they want !
is it because hezbollah is a muslim resistance thats it is terrorist ? hezbollah is not al kaeda and reject kaeda ideology
we want our freedom, our land to be free from israel, but we dont want peace and not be strong, we want peace and be strong ! israel have no rights to threat lebanon and occupie lebanon
for the occupation of shebba, and lebanese prisoniers in israel the lebanese resistance of hezbollah took 2 soldiers, if you put in the weight counter it is équilibrate
but israel throw 4 million of bombs on lebanon, 15000civilian houses destroyed, i dont know how many km of roads desroyed, ecological distater on the sea, 1200 civilian killed in them 40% of children !
the shame on who ?
because they are afraid of our legitim resistance they did that, hoping that hezbollah will be broken, and the lebanese will leave the resistance, but it didn’t happen, hebzollah won this war finally and the beat military israel, and politcly the usa.
We dont want anything from the usa and from bush, no money from them, we dont whant as usa political power and we dont want a US civilization in lebanon, we want hassan nasrallah and hezbollah for ever and we want them until israel will not respect our rights. And the resistance will be led by arms, by the moral, by the united shia and lebanese, they can fire on lebanese two times more then the 34 days of war we’ve seen never we will let hezbollah and our great Leader Sayed Nasrallah, a real man of freedom, not corrupted and who lost his son hadi 17 years in the war of lebanon for our grat country
Allah, Nasrallah wal Dahiyé kella
thank you, see you inchallah.
“An eye for an eye” means “max”.
[...] via Father Joe [...]
well have a step back and look what religeon has done to the world. BENT IT OVER AND [censored] IT UP THE [censored]! good one! religeon is pathetic in my opinion made for insecure people who cant handle the thaught of once your dead your dead nothing less and nothing more. your all pathetic