The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations wrote a letter to Pope Francis following his criticism of Israel’s counterterrorism operations against Hamas in Gaza.
In the letter, Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, chair and CEO of the Jewish group, wrote, “We appreciate and share your concern for the suffering of innocent civilians and desire to spread peace and compassion around the world. However, statements you have made including, ‘Yesterday children were bombed. This is cruelty, this is not war,’ only serve to distort Israel’s legitimate military campaign and fuel antisemitism and unjust targeting of the Jewish state.”
“This narrative does not acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre where Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 innocent civilians and took 251 hostages, 101 of whom still remain captive. Further, it does not acknowledge Hamas’ use of human shields and civilian infrastructure for terror purposes, putting the entire population of Gaza at risk,” they added.
“With global antisemitism at record highs, the American Jewish community calls on you to refrain from making incendiary comments and to build bridges between our two peoples,” concluded the letter.
The pope has recently made controversial comments related to the Gaza war, which have resulted in him being criticized in Israel and by Jewish communities abroad.
In late December, Pope Francis reiterated his condemnation of Israel’s strikes on the Gaza Strip, denouncing what he described the "cruelty" of the attacks for the second time in as many days.
"And with pain I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty," the pope said to those gathered at the Vatican.
Similar remarks made by the pope a day earlier were followed by criticism from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
A spokesperson said Pope Francis’ comments were "particularly disappointing as they are disconnected from the true and factual context of Israel's fight against jihadist terrorism -- a multi-front war that was forced upon it starting on October 7."
"Enough with the double standards and the singling out of the Jewish state and its people," the spokesperson added.
In November of last year, Jewish groups criticized Pope Francis after he appeared to accuse both Israel and Hamas of “terrorism” in the war that started after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on October 7.
“This is what wars do,” the pope said at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square. “But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.”
Rabbi David Lau, then the Chief Rabbi of Israel, later wrote a letter to Pope Francis in which he called on the Pontiff to retract his comments.
In September, the pope decried the deaths of children in Israeli military strikes in Gaza while expressing doubt that Israel and Hamas are seeking an end to the war between them.
He also said that "sometimes I think it's a war that is too much, too much".
More recently, remarks attributed to Francis in a newly released book suggested that the global community should examine whether Israel's ongoing campaign in Gaza could be classified as a genocide.
After being criticized for those remarks, the pope claimed that his words had been misunderstood and were taken out of context.