Vatican City, Jul 28, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Yesterday afternoon, the Vatican released a stern statement defending the Pope’s words and rejecting an Israeli complaint that he failed to condemn militant Palestinian attacks in remarks made on Sunday.
In his remarks, made during Sunday’s angelus, the Pope deplored attacks on the countries of Brittan, Egypt, Turkey and Iraq--countries which, the Vatican pointed out, had all endured terrorist attacks within the previous 72 hours. Israel’s most recent was 12 days prior.
The Vatican said that "Not every attack against Israel could be followed by an immediate public condemnation… partly because they were “sometimes followed by immediate Israeli reactions not always compatible with the norms of international law. It would, consequently, have been impossible to condemn the former and remain silent on the latter.”
The statement did note however, that, "John Paul II's declarations condemning all forms of terrorism, and condemning single acts of terrorism committed against Israel, were numerous and public.”