ROME, Italy — Pope Francis has condemned the “spiral” of violence occurring in the Holy Land between Palestinians and Jews.
Without placing blame firmly on either party, the pontiff denounced Friday evening’s Palestinian terror attack on Israeli Jews “as they were leaving the synagogue” near Jerusalem, leaving seven Israeli Jews dead and three others wounded.
Israeli emergency service personnel and security forces stand near a covered body at the site of a reported attack in a settler neighborhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, on January 27, 2023. (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Friday’s assault was the deadliest Palestinian terror attack on Israelis since 2008.
In his appeal, made following his weekly Angelus address Sunday, he likewise condemned “the death of ten Palestinians, among whom is a woman, killed during Israeli military anti-terrorist action in Palestine.”
Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli couple Eli Mizrahi and his wife, Natalie, victims of a shooting attack Friday in east Jerusalem, at the cemetery in Beit Shemesh, Israel, early Sunday, January 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
“The spiral of death that increases day after day does nothing other than close the few glimpses of trust that exist between the two peoples,” the pope lamented.
“From the beginning of the year, dozens of Palestinians have been killed during firefights with the Israeli army,” he continued. “I appeal to the two governments and to the international community so that, immediately and with delay, other paths might be found that include dialogue and a sincere search for peace.”
On Saturday morning, a 13-year-old Arab terrorist shot and seriously wounded two Israelis, a father and son, near the Old City of Jerusalem. The younger victim, an off-duty soldier from the Paratroopers Brigade, was able to shoot the terrorist, identified as Mohammed Aliyat from Silwan in eastern Jerusalem.
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