POPE DENOUNCES ISRAELI ATTACK ON GAZA CHURCH AS TERRORISM
December 18, 2023Pope Francis yesterday denounced the Israeli sniper attack on Christians seeking refuge in the Holy Family Catholic Parish in Gaza as “terrorism” while the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols described at as a ”cold-blooded killing.”
“Some say, ‘This is terrorism. This is war.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism,” he said.
Pope Francis condemned the attack on the compound of the Catholic parish, “where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, and nuns.”
“A mother, Mrs. Nahida Khalil Anton, and her daughter, Samar Kamal Anton, were killed, and others were wounded by the shooters while they were going to the bathroom,” said the Pope.
Will the United States condemn this?
Will the Christians who’ve all been silent finally say something?
Credit: @skynews @vaticannews
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English Script:
Reporter: What on earth has happened there over the weekend?
Archbishop of Westminster: Well, as far as I know, and the information comes from, I think, a very reliable source, the cardinal in Jerusalem, who’s the patriarch for that parish. And he said that the compound around the Church of the Holy Family was attacked. It’s some of its crucial infrastructure was targeted with rockets. And I think most distressing of all, an elderly lady who was leaving the church to go to the toilet was shot dead. And then her daughter, who went out to try and assist her was killed as well. All of this within what has been clearly designated as a church place, which I cannot believe for a minute, has rocket launchers in it. And it’s a community that since October has sheltered hundreds of people and looked after them. And the religious sisters, the nuns that have been cooking and feeding people and the house where they live in that compound, where they look after 54 very handicapped people, the water tanks were blown off, the solar panels were blown off and the house was rendered almost uninhabitable. So it’s a desperate situation for them.
Reporter: The Pope’s called it terrorism. How would you describe it?
Archbishop of Westminster: Well, it’s certainly a cold-blooded killing. That’s the description that is given. And what absolutely puzzles me is this does nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself, which I understand. I mean, the last time I was there, and that’s a few years ago, it was made very clear to me that Gaza and this community particularly lived under the domination of Hamas.
You know, so they would have maybe 6 hours electricity a day and then the rest of it would be switched to the underground network. And that’s four or five years ago, and it won’t have weakened, but… The killing of evidently vulnerable and innocent people seems to me to set back what Israel says it’s trying to achieve.
Reporter: What explanation could there be?
Archbishop of Westminster: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know about the management of soldiers in uniform and the discipline that they should be exercising. But we’ve seen in a number of ways that discipline has broken down. And these would appear to be just random shootings. So I hope those responsible for it, because this is a structured army, will be held to account for what they’ve done.
Reporter: You wouldn’t go as far as what how the Pope has described the situation. Incredibly strong language from the Holy Father saying that it was a terrorist attack.
Archbishop of Westminster: Well, I’m not sure the technicalities, frankly. This is the army of a state. So I would prefer to say it was a cold blooded killing. And what is so terrible is this just one example of what would seem to be many, but one example that touches me deeply and one example from which we have some very objective evidence.
Reporter: The Israeli Defense Force says, “It didn’t happen, it wasn’t them.”
Archbishop of Westminster: Well, I think that’s hard to believe, frankly, because the people in Gaza and the Cardinal Archbishop of Jerusalem, they’re not going to tell lies.
Reporter: So you don’t believe the Israeli Defense Force?
Archbishop of Westminster: No, I don’t.
