Israel shares, then deletes, condolences over pope’s death

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli government shared and then deleted a social media post offering condolences over the death of Pope Francis, without saying why, though an Israeli newspaper linked the decision to the late pontiff’s criticism of the war in Gaza.

The verified @Israel account had posted on Monday a message on social media platform X that read: “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing”, alongside an image of the pope visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post quoted officials at the foreign ministry as saying that the pope had made “statements against Israel” and that the social media post had been published in “error”.

The foreign ministry, which social media platform X states on its website is linked to the verified @Israel account, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, suggested last November that the global community should study whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in its war with Hamas that began in Oct. 2023.

In January the pope also called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “shameful”, prompting criticism from Rome’s chief Jewish rabbi who accused Francis of “selective indignation”.

Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas and other armed groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a far-right coalition of religious and nationalist parties, has not commented on the pope’s death.

However, Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday sent a message of condolence to Christians in the Holy Land and around the world, describing Francis as “a man of deep faith and boundless compassion”.

Relations between the Catholic Church and Judaism have improved in recent decades, after centuries of animosity.

Pope Francis was usually careful during his 12-year pontificate about taking sides in conflicts, and he condemned the growth of antisemitic groups, while also speaking by phone with Gaza’s tiny Christian community every evening during the war.

Francis in 2014 visited the Western Wall – the most sacred prayer site in Judaism – and also prayed at a section of a wall built by Israel in the occupied West Bank dividing Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Gareth Jones)