The Vatican has accused Israel of distorting weekend comments made by Pope Benedict XVI about recent terrorist attacks throughout the world.
The Pope is facing the first major controversy of his three-month-old papacy yesterday when Israel summoned the Vatican envoy to express outrage that the Pope "deliberately failed" to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis.
The pontiff said in separate comments yesterday that he did not detect any anti-Christian motive in recent attacks blamed on Muslim extremists and urged dialogue with the best elements of Islam.
The German-born pope, who has consistently reached out to Jews since assuming the papacy, was criticised by Israel for remarks on Sunday from his Alpine retreat in northwestern Italy.
Israeli Foreign Ministry
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.
A July 12th suicide bombing in the seaside city of Netanya killed five Israelis. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
"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, issued a one-line statement saying the papal envoy "has already replied to the Israeli government".
Later, Mr Navarro-Valls released a second statement in which he noted that Pope 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," Mr 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."