Dispute between Israel and Catholic leaders over Gaza as a “just war”

ROME: In the latest sign of tensions between Israel and the Catholic Church over the Gaza conflict, the Israeli embassy to the Vatican has sharply criticized a statement by a commission representing church leaders in the Holy Land, which denied that the Israeli offensive could be called a “just war.”

“It is regrettable that a group of members of the Catholic Church have decided to publish a document which, using religious pretexts and linguistic tricks, does nothing other than de facto challenge Israel’s right to defend itself against the declared intentions of its enemies to put an end to its existence,” said the Israeli press release on July 2.

The protest came in response to a statement by the Commission for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land, which is promoted by the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land, which brings together Latin, Greek Melkite, Maronite, Armenian, Syriac and Chaldean Catholic leaders from Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus.

The assembly is chaired by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is considered an important advisor to Pope Francis and the Vatican on Middle East affairs.

The Commission’s statement entitled “Just War?” amounts to a sharp criticism of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

“We are outraged that political actors in Israel and abroad are mobilizing the ‘just war’ theory to sustain and legitimize the ongoing war in Gaza,” it says. “This theory is being used in a way it was never intended for: to justify the deaths of tens of thousands of our friends and neighbors.”

“Some claim that the war follows the rules of ‘proportionality’, arguing that a war that continues to the bitter end can save the lives of Israelis in the future, thereby compensating for the thousands of Palestinian lives lost today,” the statement said. “In doing so, they put the safety of hypothetical people in the future above the lives of living and breathing people who are killed every day.”

“In short,” the commission said, “manipulating the language of just war theory is not just about words: it has tangible, fatal consequences.”

In response, the Israeli Embassy made four statements in its press release regarding the ongoing conflict.

First, it claims that the sole aim of the incursion is to “end Hamas rule in the area” and to ensure that terrorist attacks like the October 7 attack that sparked the conflict are not repeated.

Second, the embassy claims that the Justice and Peace Commission has practiced a “false symmetry” by equating Hamas’ strategy of endangering civilians by deliberately embedding its forces in civilian areas with Israel’s efforts to protect civilians.

Third, the message says that the meaning in which the commission uses the term “just war” is inconsistent with international law, which Israel seeks to abide by. (The commission’s statement focuses largely on the concept of a “just war” in Catholic social teaching, which is originally based on concepts of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.)

Fourth, the embassy insists that calling the conflict a “war in Gaza” is inaccurate, as Israel is also facing attacks from Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran.

“Therefore, the title ‘The War Against Israel’s Existence’ will describe the events of the past nine months far more realistically,” the press release states.

The exchange of views on the concept of a “just war” is the latest chapter in a growing conflict between Catholic leaders, including senior Vatican officials, and the Israeli leadership over the moral legitimacy of the Gaza conflict.

In May, for example, Israeli Ambassador Raphael Schutz objected to an essay by The Roman Osservatorthe Vatican newspaper, which claimed that Zionism has its roots in European colonialism. He also attended a summit of Nobel Peace Prize winners hosted by the Vatican, where Yemeni journalist and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman described the Israeli offensive as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide.”

In January, Rome’s Chief Rabbi Riccardo di Segni used a speech at the Jesuit-sponsored Gregorian University to claim that tensions over Gaza had contributed to a “crisis” in Jewish-Catholic relations.

The new statement from the Israeli embassy comes as Schutz prepares to resign from his post as the country’s ambassador to the Vatican, a post he has held since 2021. He is the eighth Israeli envoy to the Holy See since diplomatic relations were established in 1993.

The back and forth also comes against the backdrop of a new Israeli offensive in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, amid new evacuation orders by the Israeli military that are believed to affect up to 250,000 Palestinians in the targeted areas.

Israel accuses Hamas of “systematically violating international law and using civilian infrastructure and the civilian population as human shields” in the attack.