Israel\u2019s Embassy to the Holy See issued a protest on Monday after a Yemeni Nobel Prize winner accused Israel of \u201cgenocide\u201d in Gaza during an event hosted by the Vatican.
\nThe embassy said it felt \u201cindignation and shock\u201d over the comments from rights activist Tawakkol Karman made on Saturday evening during a conference organised by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation created by Pope Francis.
\nKarman, who won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in the Arab Spring protests, told an audience in the atrium of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica: \u201cThe world is silent in front of the genocide and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza.\u201d
\nIn an open letter posted on X on Monday, the Israeli embassy rejected Karman\u2019s accusations as \u201clies\u201d.
\n\u201cThe site was contaminated by a flagrantly anti-Semitic speech,\u201d it said.
\n\u201cWe regret that such a speech was pronounced without anyone feeling the moral duty to intervene to stop this disgrace,\u201d it added.
\nAfter mentioning Gaza, Karman got a loud round of applause from the audience which was made up of fellow Nobel prize laureates, politicians and church officials. The pope himself was not present.
\nRelations between the Vatican and Israel have grown increasingly tense since the start of the war in Gaza, with Jewish groups accusing Pope Francis of failing to describe the invasion of the Palestinian enclave as an act of self-defence after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.
\nIn March, the Israeli embassy to the Holy See criticised Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin after he accused Israel\u2019s military of causing \u201ccarnage\u201d in Gaza.
\nThe embassy initially denounced his comment as \u201cdeplorable\u201d but subsequently said this was a translation error and that it had meant to say \u201cregrettable\u201d.
\n(Reuters)protest. protest, genocide, Nobel Prize winner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel’s Embassy to the Holy See protested against Yemeni Nobel Prize winner Tawakkol Karman for accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza during an event at the Vatican. Israeli embassy rejected the accusations as “lies” and criticized the anti-Semitic speech. The tension between the Vatican and Israel has increased since the war in Gaza, with Jewish groups accusing Pope Francis of not recognizing Israel’s actions as self-defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4703,1234,233,279,2542,2172,6117,4387,145,607,298,299,3672,5319,7633,148,7776,3504,9839,9840,4834,7567,1686,4278,463,577,3522,1812,7558,1535,9314,7967,6425,431,293,6024,6305,18],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-activist","tag-attacks","tag-church","tag-comment","tag-conference","tag-embassy","tag-event","tag-francis","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-hamas","tag-israel","tag-israeli-embassy","tag-letter","tag-lies","tag-local","tag-march","tag-military","tag-nobel","tag-nobel-prize-winner","tag-peace","tag-politicians","tag-pope","tag-pope-francis","tag-protest","tag-protests","tag-relations","tag-rights","tag-speech","tag-spring","tag-st","tag-state","tag-tension","tag-vatican","tag-war","tag-war-in-gaza","tag-who","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n