In the holy city of Jerusalem, the official response to Pope Francis’s death has been largely muted, with an Israeli government account on X reportedly posting and later deleting a message of condolence.
Relations between Israel and Pope Francis had been strained since the war in Gaza broke out after Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with the pontiff often criticizing the conduct of the war while also denouncing what he called a “growing climate of antisemitism.”
Israeli media outlet Ynet reported on Tuesday that the official State of Israel X account managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had posted, “Rest in peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing.”
But it later removed the message and instructed Israeli missions worldwide to delete any similar posts from social media, the report said.
Ynet also said that diplomats were told not to sign condolence books for Pope Francis located at Vatican embassies around the world.
The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the deleted X post, but it said its ambassador to the Vatican, Yaron Sideman, would attend Francis’s funeral on Saturday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, was one of the first world leaders to offer condolences after the announcement of the pope’s death on Monday.
Herzog said the pope was “a man of deep faith and boundless compassion”, pointing out that he fostered strong ties with the Jewish people.
A condolence post by Israeli ambassador to Italy Jonathan Peled calling Francis “a compassionate leader, who tirelessly promoted dialogue, peace and justice” still remained on X as of Wednesday.
However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gidon Saar have remained silent, even as they expressed sorrow over an attack in India that killed 26 on Tuesday.
An editorial in The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday recognized Pope Francis’s role in “steering the Catholic church through turbulence,” but said that when it came to Israel, his “moral compass faltered time and again.”
“From the very beginning of his papacy, Francis struck a markedly different tone toward the Jewish state than toward its adversaries,” the paper noted, adding that relations became even more fraught after the Oct. 7 attack.
“While he did denounce Hamas’s initial slaughter, he quickly shifted to criticizing Israel’s military response as ‘cruelty, this is not war,’” the paper said.
It added that “history may record him as a missed opportunity -- another well-meaning pope who failed to rise above the politics of the moment, and in doing so, lent moral cover to those who seek Israel’s destruction.”
