OpEd: In Reply to Pope Francis’ Comments about the War in Gaza

By Seth J. Riklin and Daniel S. Mariaschin

WASHINGTON, DC — B’nai B’rith International is troubled—particularly during a holiday season that should unite the world’s religious communities and renew determination to address the actual sources of suffering globally—by a series of comments from Pope Francis that obscure key facts about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas-led terrorists. Over recent days, the pontiff spoke of “children being machine-gunned” in the Gaza Strip, and said “Children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war.”

B’nai B’rith joins all people of decency in yearning fervently for genuine and lasting peace in the Middle East and throughout the world. We empathize with all innocent people experiencing pain and hardship, including as a tragic by-product of war.

However, especially coming from the world’s most visible faith leader at the start of Christmas, it is essential that pronouncements on the difficult and complex Gaza hostilities be accurate, open-eyed and fair.

Israel does not “machine-gun” or target children. Any suggestion otherwise is a profoundly damaging misrepresentation—clearly liable to stoke anti-Semitism and encourage anti-Israel jihadists to continue tactics of deliberately putting civilians in harm’s way.

While we appreciate the pope’s past meetings with family members of Hamas-seized Israeli hostages and his calls for their release, we are concerned by his failure to remind his global audience not only of the terrorists’ violence that has repeatedly prompted war but also of their actions that have prolonged war and harmed their own surrounding non-combatants. These actions have included firing at evacuating Gaza residents, exploiting them as human shields while concealing terrorists and some 100 remaining Israeli and international hostages, and stealing humanitarian supplies.

The pope has also not underscored ongoing attacks and existential threats against Israelis, Iran’s sponsorship of violent fanatic forces region-wide, serious losses and grievous wounds among young Israeli service members, Israel’s previous complete pullout from the Gaza Strip and the Jewish state’s unparalleled efforts to provide aid and limit civilian casualties in the Strip.

To the contrary, in a letter to Middle Eastern Catholics on the anniversary of the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, he failed to mention the terrorists’ atrocities at all. Later, he referred to “the invader’s arrogance” in “Palestine.” B’nai B’rith criticized Pope Francis’s invoking in his new book of the outrageous, libelous charge of “genocide” by Israel.

Catholic-Jewish ties, which will mark 60 years since the Second Vatican Council declaration “Nostra Aetate” in 2025, are too sacred to fall victim to unnuanced portrayals of complex geopolitical and ethical realities. So are ties between the Vatican and the State of Israel, which recently passed their 30th anniversary.

We urge our friends and partners in the Catholic Church to exercise due care in rhetorical treatment of Israel—the Middle East’s only democracy and an outpost of religious freedom and diversity in a very turbulent and challenging region.

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Seth J. Riklin is the president of B’nai Brith International and Daniel S. Mariaschin is its chief executive officer.