Israel has summoned the Vatican envoy to Tel Aviv after it claimed the pope had "deliberately failed" to mention attacks in Israel when he recently condemned terrorist attacks across the world.
Pope Benedict, who has consistently reached out to Jews since assuming the papacy, was criticised yesterday by Israel for remarks he made from his Alpine vacation retreat in northwestern Italy.
He said he prayed for God to stop the "murderous hand" of terrorists and referred to the recent "abhorrent terrorist attacks" in Egypt, Britain, Turkey and Iraq, but did not mention attacks in Israel.
"The pope deliberately failed to condemn the terrible terror attack that occurred in Israel last week," a Foreign Ministry statement issued in Jerusalem said.
"We expected that the new pope, who on taking office emphasised the importance he places on relations between the Church and the Jewish people, would behave differently," the Israeli statement said. It called on the pope to condemn attacks "against Jews in the same way he condemns terror attacks against others."
Later, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom appeared to soften the criticism, saying he hoped the failure to mention the attack in Netanya "was a mistake and not a deliberate omission."
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, accompanying Benedict on vacation, issued a one-line statement saying the papal envoy "has already replied to the Israeli government." It did not elaborate.
Later, Navarro-Valls released a second statement in which he noted that Benedict's words expressly referred to terror attacks in "recent days."
"It's surprising that one would have wanted to take the opportunity to distort the intentions of the Holy Father," Navarro-Valls said in the statement. "Obviously the other week's grave attack in Netanya referred to by Israel falls under the general and unreserved condemnation of terrorism."
Benedict has issued a series of condemnations of terrorist attacks since the July 7 London bombings.
Speaking to reporters at his retreat in Les Combes, Italy, Benedict said he did not see an anti-Christian motive in the recent wave of terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, attributing them instead to "a much more general intention."
Benedict also said it was important to seek dialogue with the best elements of Islam.