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In his book ‘Hope Never Disappoints,’ Pope Francis suggests an alleged, possible genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip should be investigated.
By Fiamma Nirenstein, JNS
As the whole world faces the violent growth of antisemitism, unprecedented since World War II, Pope Francis adds fuel to the fire with his new book, Hope Never Disappoints.
One line in the book immediately became a headline in all languages as it suggests that an alleged, possible genocide committed by Israel on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip should be investigated. The implication is that the war in Gaza—an unwanted war necessitated by the devastating Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023—is being carried out with a malign intent.
Perhaps the pope has been misadvised by those who imagine that the world he speaks to is steeped in populist pietism—crowds who march on the cities of the world with violence in the name of a front in which democracy and freedom have no citizenship.
I don’t see the Christian world of ordinary people this way. Friends of the Jews in the democratic world, understand that the term “genocide” brings a wave of antisemitism all over the world today, it leads to signs on which the Star of David is replaced with the swastika while reckless crowds shout “Free Palestine.” It leads to portraits of Adolf Hitler being superimposed with pictures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, shouts to the media that these two men act the same, a line that makes headlines on Al Jazeera or in Il Manifesto or The Guardian, every day.
Repeating the “genocide” accusation increases the fashionable game of attacking Israel and the Jews to please the Third Worldism of the United Nations, satisfy Iran, Russia and China, and make liberal social-media platforms and talk shows go crazy with joy.
And does this exhortation from the pope have a concrete reason to exist? No.
Not only are the number of dead in Gaza uncertified as the source for such statistics has always remained only that of the unverifiable and unreliable Gaza Ministry of Health, the United Nations itself, which also stuttered about it a lot, has suggested that only a fraction of the 40,000 killed were women and children. Instead, the only realistic figure on the number of dead is that of the armed combatants, which Israel estimates to be around 20,000. That tells us that the proportion of civilians killed in Gaza would be one-to-one—one civilian for every combatant—this is the lowest ratio in the history of modern warfare.
Unlike any other country in the history of warfare, Israel has provided tons of medical aid to those in need and tried not to hit the civilian population with measures of any kind, even forwarning residents in areas the Israel Defense Forces intended to target. The war’s results have reflected now-slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s belief that the blood of innocent Palestinians serves as a shield for fighters and inspires solidarity with Hamas.
The term “genocide” was coined in 1944 by Raphael Lemkin to describe the atrocities of the Shoah and adopted in international law in 1948 to criminalize “acts committed with the intent to destroy an ethnic, racial or religious group.” Yet the term has never been used to stigmatize Fatah and Hamas, who promise “the construction of an Islamic and Palestinian state in place of Israel.”
On the contrary, it is difficult to imagine that Israel has ever had similar intentions having accepted territorial partition since 1948, the Camp David agreement in 1978 and the Oslo Accords in 1995. Another thing, it would be unimaginable to sanction Israel as it fights for its survival against terrorism. In any case, the Arab presence in Israel has grown by 1,182% since the State of Israel was established, while the Jewish presence in Arab countries has dropped by 98.87%. Yes, there was ethnic cleansing, but not by Israel.
Professor Robert Wistrich, the greatest historian of antisemitism, explained it as the “Holocaust inversion,” which makes the Jews the new Nazis, and the Palestinians the new Jews It was an idea born with the Soviet Union and which continues to this day.
There was an attempt at genocide, but it was by Hamas on Oct. 7 when its operatives and even Palestinian residents attacked Israel and sought to kill all the Jews. It failed. It would be tragic for the church to proclaim otherwise.
Fiamma Nirenstein is an Italian-Israeli author, journalist and senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. An adviser on antisemitism to Israel’s foreign minister, she served in the past as a member of the Italian Parliament, where she was vice president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Chamber of Deputies. Donate to vital charities that help protect Israeli citizens and inspire millions around the world to support Israel too! Now more than ever, Israel needs your help to fight and win the war -- including on the battlefield of public opinion. Antisemitism, anti-Israel bias and boycotts are out of control. Israel's enemies are inciting terror and violence against innocent Israelis and Jews around the world. Help us fight back!
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