Pope Benedict XVI deflected Thursday a request by Prime Minister Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu that he denounce Iran and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for anti-Semitic statements.
“I asked him as a moral figure to make his voice heard loudly and continuously against the declarations coming from Iran about their intentions to destroy the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a television interview after meeting Pope Benedict. “It cannot be that at the start of the 21st century, a state arises that says it intends to destroy the Jewish state and that a very strong and aggressive voice isn’t heard condemning this phenomenon,” the Prime Minister elaborated.
“Blocking the Iranian danger will advance peace,” he told the pope. “We want peace with the Palestinians, but one that brings security. We do not seek to rule a different people, but we also do not want an Iranian-backed terror state to develop beside us and endanger Israel,” he explained to the visitor from the Vatican.
The pope replied by saying that he believes that the moderate elements in the region should be strengthened and the extremist ones should be fought. He added that as pope, he leads the global battle against anti-Semitism.
The pope and Mr. Netanyahu held a private 15-minute meeting in Nazareth and discussed “how to advance the terms of the peace process,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said. Netanyahu stated that he and the pope had discussed “the historic process of reconciliation between Christianity and Judaism.”
Pope Benedict has never directly spoken about Ahmadinejad’s statements on Israel and his denials of the Holocaust. However, Lombardi said on Thursday, “We have made objections in the past."
'Extremist and offensive political positions'
After Ahmadinejad called Israel the "most cruel and repressive racist regime" in the recent U.N. conference on racism in Geneva, Switzerland, Lombardi issued a statement deploring the Iranian leader’s attempt to use the forum to tout “political positions, of an extremist and offensive nature,” Catholic News Agency reported at the time.
Father Lombardi added that the “Holy See deplores the use of this United Nations forum for the adoption of political positions, of an extremist and offensive nature, against any State. This does not contribute to dialogue and it provokes an unacceptable atmosphere of conflict.
“What is needed is to make good use of this important opportunity to engage in dialogue together, according to the line of action that the Holy See has always adopted, with a view to effectively combating the racism and intolerance that still today affect children, women, those of African descent, migrants, indigenous peoples, etc., in every part of the world.”