With the passing of the hours, the full scope of the massacre is still unknown but it is evident this is a catastrophe of Biblical dimensions. The number of victims could reach one thousand, most of them civilians. Entire families, grandparents, parents, small children were executed in cold blood by HAMAS and ISLAMIC JIHAD Palestinian militants.
Previously (October 7) we mentioned the immorality of using linguistic ambiguity in such circumstances. Many didn’t find it difficult to understand it and condemned the hideous crime, naming its perpetrators and acknowledging Israel’s basic right to defend itself against the atrocity.
On this background it is extremely disappointing and frustrating to read the text published by “The Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem” (October 7). It suffers from the same a fore mentioned immoral linguistic ambiguity. From reading it, there is no way to understand what happened, who were the aggressors and who the victims. It is especially unbelievable that such a sterile document was signed by people of faith.
It is not outside the context to mention that today is going to start in the Gregorian university a 3 days’ conference on the documents from the pontificate of Pope Pius XII and their meaning for Jewish-Christian relations. Apparently few decades later there are those who still did not learn the lesson of the recent dark past.
