The Jerusalem Post April 22, 2025
His 2014 trip to the region was rife with symbolic gestures meant to suggest balance where there was none.

He visited both Yad Vashem and the separation barrier, where a photo showed him resting his head on the wall in a manner similar to pilgrims visiting the Western Wall.

He laid a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, an unprecedented act by a pontiff — but also entered the West Bank not via Israel, but through Jordan, and celebrated Mass in Bethlehem beside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Later, he would invite Abbas and then-President Shimon Peres to the Vatican for a prayer summit.
That apparent symmetry was soon undermined by clear statements and actions that betrayed a disturbing bias.

In 2015 Francis warmly received Abbas at the Vatican and reportedly called him an “angel of peace” — a truly baffling characterization of a man who
1. has glorified terrorism,
2. funded the families of suicide bombers,
3. and denied the Holocaust.

This statement, carried by many media outlets, was denied by a papal spokesperson.

In the same visit, the Vatican finalized a treaty formally recognizing the “State of Palestine,” a move condemned by Israel as “a hasty step” that undermined peace efforts and ignored Jewish historic rights in Jerusalem.