Cardinal's Likening Of Gaza To Concentration Camp Angers Israel

JERUSALEM — Israel said Saturday it was shocked and distressed by a senior Vatican cardinal's likening of Gaza under Israel's military offensive to a concentration camp.

A spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry said the cardinal, whose remarks appeared in an interview Wednesday, adopted the kind of language that Hamas and other Islamic militant groups have used to demonize Israel and equate it with Nazi Germany.

"It was shocking to hear the same kind of terminology from such a high-ranking member of the church," Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor said Saturday.

Cardinal Renato Martino, a former Vatican envoy to the United Nations and now Pope Benedict XVI's top official on issues of peace and justice, said in the interview that Gaza now resembles a "big concentration camp."

Commenting on Israel's two-week military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Martino told the online newspaper Il Sussidiario.net that both sides were concerned only with their own interests.

"But the consequences of this selfishness is hatred, poverty, injustice. It is always the defenseless populations that pay," he was quoted as saying. "Look at the conditions in Gaza: It looks more and more like a big concentration camp."

Vatican spokesmen have declined to comment on the remarks, saying instead that it was more important to note an appeal by the pope on Thursday for a cease-fire.

Martino, an influential prelate who heads the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, seemed to want to balance his remarks in another interview published Thursday in Rome daily La Repubblica in which he condemned the Hamas rocket attacks that prompted the Israeli offensive.

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But he did not back away from his earlier comparison and said, "Look at the conditions the people are living in."

A man who answered the phone at the cardinal's residence on Friday and identified himself as his private secretary said the prelate would not comment further on the Gaza remark.

"Using this excessive language is not doing justice and is not bringing peace any nearer and he should know better," Palmor said. "This kind of speech is deeply distressing."

Palmor said, however, that the cardinal's remarks would not harm relations with the Vatican or disrupt plans for a visit sometime this year by Benedict.

"These declarations by Cardinal Martino have nothing to do with our overall relations with the Holy See. The pope is still very welcome in Israel," Palmor said.

The Vatican and Israel have had a delicate relationship since establishing diplomatic ties in 1993.

Most recently, they have clashed over the legacy of Pope Pius XII, who some historians say did not do everything in his power to prevent Jews from being deported to concentration camps during World War II.

That dispute centers on a caption of a photo of Pius at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem that says Pius did not protest the Nazi genocide of Jews and maintained a largely "neutral position."

The Vatican says Pius made every effort to help Jews and other victims through quiet diplomacy and wants Yad Vashem to change the caption.

There are also unresolved differences over the status of expropriated church property in Israel and tax exemptions for the church. The Vatican has also protested Israeli restrictions on the movement of Arab Christian clergy to and around the West Bank.

___

Associated Press Writer Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

Comments

[gina51]

The unfortunate thing about this conflict is that if one sympathies with the Palestinians they are immediately labeled anti-semitic. Israel is committing genocide and are asking the world to approve it. I have always been sympathetic to the Jewish plight but can not condone the massacre of a people. This war will stop when the US stops supplying the weapons. What are our interests over there that the government condones this? Israel occupies Palestine illegally. The Palestinian's lives are controlled by Israel. They are not allowed access to their farm land, They are not allowed free passage in their o land,they do not have free access to water. The Israelis drive on highways that the Palestinians are not allowed to use. They are given dirt roads with check points The Palestinians live in slums and rubble while the Israeli settlements in the area are like the suburbs in the US. Green lawns while the Palestinians live in the dust because Israel controls the water too. No wonder the occupation is compared to apartheid.

[morgan1]

Your statement is absolutely correct. The Cardinal stating Gaza is a concentration camp does not go far enough. It is a slaughter house, an area hemmed in by Israel where they can pick and choose their targets at will-- Farms, houses, groves, orchards, school, hospitals, ambulances. They seem to take great delight in ordering people into shelters and then bombing them. I read an article some time back when the wall was going up, land being taken, some being given back, but what hit me most was the fact that bulldozers plowed under an olive grove 100 years old without second thoughts. I can't find the right words to describe the mindset of people who can do that and commit premeditated genocide. The fact that we fund them, go along with their madness is even worse.

[coolfireone]

So, it angers Israel. Too bad. The shoe fits. Were Israel to have been treated over the last several years as they have treated those in Gaza, e.g., the blockades of necessities, then perhaps they might see a glimmer of the truth. The Israeli government appears to be blind as to what they themselves have done as well as what they are doing. it amounts to demonstrable ignorance of cause and effect.

[alexa07]

Why are they also expecting the rest of the world to be blind to what they are doing?

[polaris12]

US Weapons Killing People In Gaza
 
Statement on H Res 34, Recognizing Israel's right to defend itself 
 


By Ron Paul

01/10/09 "Madame Speaker, I strongly oppose H. Res. 34, which was rushed to the floor with almost no prior notice and without consideration... The resolution clearly takes one side in a conflict that has nothing to do with ... US interests. ... the weapons currently being used by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza are ... paid for by American taxpayers. ... What moral responsibility do we have for the violence in Israel and Gaza after having provided so much military support to one side?

 I am appalled by the practice of lobbing homemade rockets into Israel from Gaza. ... But I am also appalled by the longstanding Israeli blockade of Gaza -- a cruel act of war -- and the ... loss of life that has resulted from the latest Israeli attack ....

Such collective punishment is immoral. .... the US Congress should not be loudly proclaiming its support for the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.

... This resolution ... will lead the US to become further involved ..., promising “vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” Is it really in the interest of the United States to guarantee the survival of any foreign country? I believe it would be better to focus on the security and survival of the United States."


If you oppose this war, contact

[polaris12]

... contact your Congress person.

[SiberianRat]

YES! And tell him/her how appalled you are that he/she voted to support this mess (unless you're one of the lucky FEW to have an upstanding Rep who voted against it).

[JDOK]

I fully agree with each and every word in Ron Paul's statement against Resolution 34. I to cannot understand why we are taking responsibility for actions taken by Israel upon the backs and reputations of Americans! "Vigorous support and unwavering commitment" should be afforded by the US Congress to the American people and address our problems.....not Israel's! Actions like Resolution 34 reflect the degree to which our politics are influenced by Israel and, in my opinion, it must stop immediately.

[Old time Dem]

Ron Paul is right and the cardinal is right.

[SantaFeScribe]

This is a wonderful addition to the discussion -- and exception to the rule of congressional warmongering , along with that of Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
Thanks for this contribution.

[UberReaganite]

Ron Paul shows exactly the type of ridiculous isolationalist mentality that delayed America's entry into WW1 and WWII. Any student of history knows that America's involvement in those conflicts was INEVITABLE and all isolationalists like Ron Paul did was prolong the conflict and cause more death and destruction. According to RP America should have NO ALLIES AT ALL.
I guess you could say the same thing about those two world wars that Ron Paul is saying now about Israel. Why should we have bothered fighting in Europe when America was not directly attacked by Germany in either war? Why should we gurarantee the survival of ANY of our allies like Great Britain, France, Holland, Norway etc? Well....why?
What Ron Paul is obviously ignorant to is that when Israel was formed as a Jewish state the Palestinians were also offered the same opportunities to form their oewn nation and have been offered those opportunities many times since -THE PALESTINIANS CHOSE to NOT have a nation. Even now they wont cooperate because their basic desire is not nation building at all but the complete destruction of Israel. I choose to support Israel because they have earned their national status and want only to be left alone with peace and security.

[bbrecht]

This is not WWII-- and some of us are doing our best to avoid WWIII.

[polaris12]

US Plans Massive Arms Delivery to Israel (Press TV

January 10, 2009 "Press TV"”

The Pentagon plans to make a large arms delivery to Israel, rising fears that the military campaign in Gaza will go on for a long time.

The US is trying to hire a merchant ship that can carry hundreds of tons of weapons from Greece to Israel later this month; Reuters reported citing tender documents it had obtained.


Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed the planned arms shipment to Israel, but denied that the delivery was linked to the Israel's deadly offensive in Gaza.


"This previously scheduled shipment is routine and not in support of the current situation in Gaza," said Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder.


However, a senior military analyst in London, who wished to remain unnamed, said the timing of the shipments shows that they may be 'irregular' and linked to the military operation in Gaza.


The tender for the ship followed a December US arms delivery to Israel, which was also carried out by a merchant ship.



Last week, The Jerusalem Post, reported that the first shipment of the missiles arrived in early December, adding that the bombs had been used in the military onslaught in Gaza.

So far, Israel's 15-day offensive in the besieged Palestinian enclave has claimed the lives of more than 800 Palestinians and wounded almost 3500.



[xxnounxx]

and they ask why are tey hated

[mjc]

Martino is right. Not only is Gaza a concentration camp, it has some of the same characteristics as the Warsaw Ghetto in which the Germans put all the Jews in Warsaw in an area that they then had the Jews build a wall to encircle. Then on the excuse of terrorists coming from the Ghetto, they would raid the area, systematically killing entire neighborhoods. Food and water then became very difficult to get. Finally, there was a rebellion within the Ghetto just before the Russians took over the City but it was too late, made deliberately so by the Russians, and most of the rebels were killed. Gaza is a tightly populated area. If there are air raids, tank fire, etcetera, many, many Palestinians are bound to be killed. I wonder if the Israelis know how many have been? Israel is anything but a real democracy.

[gakabani]

Your description is accurate and the Pals thank you!

[SiberianRat]

mjc, you've hit it right on again!

[jwcmass]

Actually, I think you are confusing the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which took place in early 1943 (and was at its height in April and May of that year) and which received limited support from the Polish underground, with the Warsaw Uprising, which took began in August 1944, lasted until October, and was conducted by the Polish resistance.

You are correct that the latter event was timed (by the Poles) to coincide with the Soviets approach to Warsaw, and that the Soviets stopped short of the city, thus allowing the Germans to destroy the resistance (and, from the Soviet point of view, eliminate any rivalry from their handpicked government for post-war Poland).

[jwcmass]

As for Gaza's comparison with the Ghetto, there are many alarming similarities, but there are many important differences.

The death toll in the Warsaw Ghetto was MUCH higher than in Gaza, even with thismilitary attack .--in Warsaw there were literally bodies lying in the streets- The other difference, and it is critical, is that the Nazis had a policy of deliberate extermination of the population-- This was evil beyond anything ever seen in history-- it was all quite carefully planned.

Gaza - as a Ghetto-- was created not as part of a plan of extermination, but by accident: it was the one corner in the southwest that Israel failed to capture during the 1948 War, and many Palestinian refugees -- many of them forced from their homes, had fled to that area-- and refugee camps were established. It was under Egyptian rule until the 1967 War.

Israelis are NOT Nazis, they are NOT seeking the extermination of the Palestinians.

Indeed what they are driven by is fear-- that if they adopt the "one state solution" advocated by the settlers -- the Palestinians numbers would quickly surpass their own and thus Israel would cease to be what its founders wanted -- a Jewish democratic state (for it would either cease to have a Jewish majority--or it would cease to be a democracy)--So Israel is in a dilemma of its own making--not that this lets them off the hook

[Tinsdale]

At the moment, fatalities in the Warsaw Ghetto conflict are much higher. The battle of Warsaw lasted longer while the battle of Gaza has just begun.

It would not be totally accurate to assume that the IDF and IAF did not have a meticulous order of battle for the attack on Gaza. It was been widely reported that the assault and its components were in the works for months. The weapons chosen for the assault on Gaza inflict large swaths of collateral damage by design. Naval artillery, tank shells and 2000lb payloads unleashed from F-16s are deadly for a wide area beyond the perimeters of their target. These weapons are not deployed like the precision surgical strikes that are delivered by weaponized drones in Afghanistan, or allegedly, against defined targets in Pakistan

There have been reports citing the use of White Phosphorous in Gaza. If true, this is very disturbing. In 1980, a number of nations signed agreements disavowing the use of incendiary weapons against civilian populations. This is a terrible weapon if used, even inadvertently, on a heavily populated area. One fleck of this chemical on a person has horrific effects. Imagining what it could do to a small child is unthinkable. It should be noted that Israel, the United States and Russia did not sign on to all of the articles of the 1980 agreement, so they do not consider themselves bound by the document in its entirety. This last sentence speaks volumes.

[xxnounxx]

even ehud barak said he would turn to terrorism if he was plaestinian

"I would have joined a terrorist organization."
-- Ehud Barak's response to Gideon Levy, a columnist for the Ha'aretz newspaper, when Barak was asked what he would have done if he had been born a Palestinian.
Ehud Barak
Prime Minister of Israel
1999 - 2001

[Katlen]

It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Gazans cannot go north, south, east or west to escape or emigrate. Israel is really earning the hostility directed at it. No friend to the US - will drag us even farther down.

[alexa07]

This comment has not yet been posted
The Cardinal's comments cannot be ignored by the world community despite the reaction of the Israelis. They are using American weapons to commit atrocities upon the Palestinians in Gaza on a concentrated, captive population. We are supposed to be hypersensitive to the feelings of the Israelis? They have caused the homes of the Gazans to become a giant prison, underwritten by my American tax dollars & I am fed up about it. My family in protest is not only refusing to donate further monies to the Democratic Party, we are taking a further step to protest the official statements by our Congress in their resolution in support of the Israeli actions. 'WE ARE MORALLY OFFENDED BY THIS CONGRESSIONAL RESOLUTION! We are withdrawing from both political parties & becoming INDEPENDENTS. My husband & two adult sons are Democrats, while I am a lifelong Republican (as were my late parents) who did vote for Obama. How did it come to be that our elected officials could be so morally deficient? We are deeply ashamed of the American govt.

[KKojei]

At no time in the history of our planet has the need been so great for human beings to treat each other like we want to be treated, regardless of race, creed, or color. It is imperative that we remove war mongers and profiteers from among us, close weapons manufacturing facilities and remove our tax dollars from this horror. We all have blood on our hands, the blood of sons and daughters, women and children on our hands as long as we don't stand up! Enough IS Enough! Even the combatants are victims in this. The global rule for our leadership should be: If your administration fails to deliver a peaceful resolution to international disagreements, border disputes, economic disputes and issues you must resign. If you insist on going to war we will rent out a stadium, equip you all with whatever weapons you insist are necessary, within reason, and let the leadership fight it out. No more cowardly arming and sending women and children and our young sons, who come back shattered in mind and body, [if they come back at all] into bloody conflicts. Any parliament, any congress, any monarchy, any organized government who cannot maintain peace through diplomacy, should be bound by law to personally fight the war they would send our children to. We'll sell tickets, we'll sell popcorn and watch YOU fight it out! Otherwise, get the hell out and let somebody handle it who understands this just can not continue! No War! No Nukes!

[Brillig]

AMEN- If well thinking Americans refuse to be hostage to their major Achilles Heel- Israel- then there will be room and time for negotiation.

As long as we keep claiming Israel's right as above any other "right", then this won't stop.

[polaris12]

Another option is to have an international organization (UN) that actually works, without being curbed by vetoes from the major powers. Just like feudal provinces within countries once realized that they needed a national government to control waring princes, we need to recognize the limitations of the nation state and form "a more perfect" international governance, because this isn't just about one country; it's about all of the people of the world. The world still runs on the idea of "might makes right," when we really need a stronger international legal system and collective means of enforcement. Continuing with the current system of international anarchy endangers all of us.

[KKojei]

As unfortunate as it is to say, the very first obstacle to an international body capable of keeping nation state in line would be the United States Of America, which consistently vetoes any move on the part of the United Nations to acquire the kind of jurisdictional power and policing power to truly bring criminal governments to heel. Ours is a criminal government when it supports, aids and abets criminal governments on behalf of corporate interests. Lobbyists pay good money to compromise the integrity of our government. What really needs to be done is to dry up the funding of each and every corporation or live person who negatively impacts the quality of life on our planet. We cannot divorce ourselves from the suffering in Gaza or Darfur or Somalia. On the day that the forces determined to enslave the planet enslave America completely, all will be lost. We must demand our tax dollars be used for good or dry that up too. The blood is on our hands because we don't.

[nyesquire21]

truth hurts

[rabiddog6708]

Israel is shocked and distressed by this comparison, but they are OK with the bombing of innocent civilians. Stop the US money and weapons to Israel. Do not give these guys a penny or a single bullet.

[Peaceisnecessary]

The world and Jews in Israel are protesting this war. Having peace is a better solution than having war. 2500 injured and 800+ killed Palestinians and the IDF has still not prevented the rocket attacks. Why is the blockade and the fact that the Palestinians are made to live in squalor conditions never mentioned? The Israeli government keeps using the rockets as an excuse to bomb and kill people in Palestine.

[cinemaven]

My wonderful mom-in-law was taken from her home in Odessa at the age of 15 and placed into a work camp (Spandau). Food was almost non-existant, you didn't know from one day to the next if you would live. Your life was controlled entirely by an outside force but they couldn't control your spirit or your heart and, in time, the truth of their actions came out.

Two new posts on the In Gaza site run by Canadian activist Eva Bartlett who's blog relates to the medical side of the conflict.

http://ingaza.wordpress.com.

She is working with the Red Crescent helping victims and has posted a few videos, including one which is simply the sound of the drones and guns.

Watching and reading through her blog, it's impossible to resist drawing parallels...

Another blog giving an on the ground commentary of what's happening in Gaza is http://gazatoday.blogspot.com/
and the gallery for that site http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb
These sites are run by a 23 year old journalist in Gaza

[ONESTATESOLUTION]

If the jews in warsaw or in concentration camps had rockets would the world have held it against them if they shot them off?

[dejavu1972]

excellent point.

[T Pol]

Did the Jews in Warsaw fire off rockets BEFORE they were sealed off in a ghetto?

In case you don't know the answer, no, they didn't.

I am praying for intervention here that brings safety to Gaza civilians held as body armor by Hamas and for safety for Israel from Hamas' rockets.

I'm sure the Israeli people are as upset about this as Americans are at U.S. involvement in Iraq.

But to draw these parallels when extremist Arabs have been bent on Israel's destruction for decades (not ALL Arabs! Many Arabs have lived withIN Israel's borders in peace for years and know life can be different) is absurd. The Jews hauled into concentration camps and exterminated had never terrorized and killed the German people by setting rockets off on them. They and no body representing them set rockets off on the German people.

Even the times that I have criticized the Israeli government, I know that Israel -- unlike the Nazis -- mourns the deaths of civilians in these conflicts.

[rubberstamp]

It s my understanding that Germany's Jewish population where deemed terrorists and this was part of the rational for relocating them to ghetto's.

[jwcmass]

While I agree with you that the comparison of Israel to Nazi Germany is inaccurate-- for the reasons you stated, I have to say that "mourning the deaths of civilians" does not excuse one from killing them in the first place.

I can't put it any better than Gandhi, who said "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"

And not all Israelis "mourn" Palestinian deaths -- what about the monument to Baruch Goldstein, who perpetrated the massacre in Hebron in 1994 and is a hero to many in the settler movement?

Finally, I think a good case can be made that Israel's actions are actually harmful TO ISRAEL AND ARE NOT IN HER BEST INTERESTS.

[LolaP]

worth watching:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Efm9uAnUU00

Bill Moyers on Mideast Violence | PBS

[xxnounxx]

That good coming out of america

[maddie0001]

There is a common misconception that the Jews did not resist their persecutors, going passively to their deaths. Resistance can take many forms, from armed struggle to simply a determination to survive. Many of the victims were incapable of opposition – elderly persons, mothers, children, worn down by years of neglect and abuse. Physical resistance was often only possible for politically motivated young adults. There were many examples of this. Among the best known are the ghetto uprisings in Warsaw and Bialystok, but armed resistance also occurred in ghettos such as Czestochowa, Minsk Mazowiecki, Vilnius, and Bedzin.
Faced by well-armed and trained troops, and surrounded by a native population who were largely indifferent to their fate, the failure of these uprisings was never in doubt. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and these acts of armed resistance by Jews, however hopeless, were to have consequences that still resound today, for they were to provide those who survived with a determination that Jews would never again become helpless victims.
http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/ghettos.html

Now maybe if those people in the ghettos had rocket launchers back then we wouldn't be having this problem now. Instead the Palestinians have to pay the price for what the Germans did.

[jazzman]

"and surrounded by a native population who were largely indifferent to their fate"

sounds like Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United States of America.

[T Pol]

Yes, but the Jews did not initiate aggression before being put in ghettos and being put to death. And that is the point so many are missing here.

[ONESTATESOLUTION]

and neither did the palestinians.