Vatican decries Israeli raid on 'Freedom Flotilla'
May 31, 2010
The Vatican has expressed intense concern about the Israeli raid on the "Freedom Flotilla" headed for the Gaza Strip on May 31.
Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, decried the "needless loss of lives" in the attack, which left at least 20 people dead and others wounded.
Reminding reporters that Pope Benedict XVI will soon be traveling to the Middle East for a pastoral visit to Crete, Father Lombardi said that the Pontiff will follow the latest crisis there with great care.
While outraged protestors in Turkey demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy to denounce the violent attack on the Freedom Flotilla (which had sailed from Turkey), supporters of Israel said that the ships deliberately provoked Israeli action by defying that country's embargo on shipments to Gaza. Davis Harris, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, charged that "violent clashes are exactly what the international supporters of Hamas must have been seeking."
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Further information:
- Fr Lombardi : "Needless Loss of Life" in Naval Raid (Vatican Radio)
- Vatican 'concerned' over Flotilla raid (Press TV)
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Posted by: mgreen32234 -
Jun. 01, 2010 9:36 AM ET USA
Fr. Lombardi, please! Don't you see the craftiness and wickedness of Hamas in this trick? Don't you recognize darkness when its right in front of you? The Vatican and the Church is not well served by your ignorance.
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Posted by: -
May. 31, 2010 9:27 PM ET USA
The Gaza Terrorist Flotilla was a deliberate attempt to provoke an Israeli reaction. I enjoyed watching the peace activists caught on IDF camera with clubs, pipes, knives and slingshots with marbles set upon each of the commandos as they landed on the ship. Ask the Armenians how much they enjoyed Turkish attention.
