Jerusalem – Israel’s prime minister has thanked the pope for rejecting the long-held charge that the Jewish people were responsible for killing Jesus.
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In a forthcoming book, Pope Benedict XVI explains that there is no biblical and theological basis to the ancient claim, which helped fuel anti-Semitism. A previous pontiff made the same declaration in 1965.
In a letter Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote, “I commend you for forcefully rejecting in your recent book a false charge that has been a foundation for the hatred of the Jewish people for many centuries.”
Netanyahu wrote that he hoped the pope’s “clarity and courage will strengthen the relations between Jews and Christians throughout the world, and help promote peace and reconciliation for generations to come.”
I never felt guilty and for this I did not need an exoneration. In Buchenwald some of the guards were Ukrainian SS who killed Jews for pure fun and later probably accepted “holy communion”, my ancestors were murdered by Cmielnitzki but my npehew A’H was saved in a monastery in Belgium and the Pope’s ancestors [a Hitler youth melody]sang wenn Judenblut vom Messer spritzt, when Jewish blood spurts from the dagger and it did. From a PR aspect Natanyahu did the perfect action but from a reality view it is malarkey.
Its a great relief that this outrageous blood libel (literally) has finally been removed from public debate. Jews should be grateful to the Pope for removing any uncertainty which has contributed to antisemitism in the past. His is showing himself to be a great friend of the jewish people.
Even though the Pope made an official announcement, it won’t readily change the feelings of many people. I remember a nasty incident at work, when a farbisen co-worker called me a “Christ killer”. The person who called me that was himself as member of a minority group. I immediately reported him to an official at work, who chewed him out, but good.
Thanks, but I never felt any guilt at all about the dead carpenter on a plus sign. I didn’t kill him. Nobody I know killed him. If he even existed – and the historical evidence is against it – he was done in by a bunch of Romans who have been dust for 2000 years. If the fables were true and the provisional government had something to do with it it was their problem. You might as well “pardon” Norway for Quisling’s crimes or “forgive” the French for what the Vichy government did.