Amichai Chikli at a Holocaust commemoration ceremony organised last year at the Birkenau concentration camp, Photo: Klaudia Radecka-NurPhoto / Shutterstock
Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Tzikli has criticised Pope Francis for his statement calling on the international community to examine whether Israel’s military operation in Gaza can be considered genocide against the Palestinian people, Reuters reports.
In an open letter published in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, Chikli noted that the pontiff’s words, based on excerpts from his forthcoming book, are a “trivialisation” of the term “genocide”. “As a people who lost six million of our sons and daughters in the Holocaust, we are particularly sensitive to this devaluation of the term ‘genocide’, which is dangerously close to Holocaust denial,” the minister wrote.
Chickley, who concluded the letter by saying that Francis is “a dear friend of the Jewish people”, asked the pope to “clarify your position on the new genocide charges against the Jewish state”. The Vatican has not yet responded to questions about the letter.
Israel rejects accusations of genocide in Gaza, claiming that its troops are only fighting Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups.
Pope Francis, as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, is usually cautious about choosing sides in conflicts, but recently he has become more open about Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. In excerpts from the book, published by the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the pontiff noted that some international experts believe that “what is happening in Gaza has the hallmarks of genocide.”
“We must carefully examine whether this is in line with the technical definition of genocide developed by international lawyers and organisations,” Pope Francis said.
The authorities in Gaza claim that the Israeli operation has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and injured more than 107,000, and most of the enclave’s more than 2 million residents have been made homeless or displaced. Israel launched the offensive after an attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were kidnapped and taken to Gaza, according to Israel.
