The Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a message of condolence on its various social media accounts following the passing of Pope Francis, only to delete it shortly after.
“Rest in peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing,” the now-erased message said according to the Jerusalem Post. It also included a photo of the Holy Father in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem during a visit in 2014.
JP noted that neither Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have commented on the pope’s death so far.
The only Israeli official who has spoken out is President Isaac Herzog, who bid Francis farewell on Monday in a lengthy post in Arabic on X. “I offer my deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the Christian world in general, and to the Christian communities in the Holy Land in particular, on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis,” part of his post read.
He added: “I hope that his prayers for peace in the Middle East will be fulfilled and that all those abducted will return soon.”
The paper states that the decision to remove the post should come as no surprise, given Israeli officials’ ire over the pope’s recent statements regarding Israel’s attacks in Gaza. Specifically, Pope Francis had called Israel’s bombing raids, leaving scores of children dead, “cruelty, not war.”
“What is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” the Holy See had commented.
Former Israeli ambassador to the Vatican Raphael Schutz believes that Israel is making a mistake in erasing their condolences. “We shouldn’t keep score like this after someone’s death,” he said.
Francis’ statements deserve “strong condemnation,” Schutz says, and should have been responded to diplomatically, but keeping silent about the death of a man who was “a spiritual leader for over a billion people is not the right message.”
The pope’s funeral is set to take place this Saturday. Whether Israel will send an official representative to the Vatican or not is unclear, the Jerusalem Post notes.
According to Schutz, the possible absence of the Israeli delegation would be “unfortunate” and “could reinforce a sense of isolation, already heightened by the ongoing war, and unnecessarily add fuel to that fire.”
