Ex-Israeli envoy says Israel should not attend Pope Francis’s funeral. Israel’s former ambassador to Italy, Dror Eydar, 1. has accused the late Pope Francis of antisemitism 2. and called on the Israeli government not to attend the pontiff’s funeral.
Eydar, who held the envoy post from 2019-2022 made the comments in an interview with the Israeli news outlet Maariv.
The pope was “rivalled in the degree of his antisemitism only by Pius XII”, Eydar said, referring to the man who served as the head of the Catholic Church between 1939 and 1958 who he said “was silent” during the Holocaust.
The former diplomat said Francis “accused us of genocide” and talked about the “children in Gaza and not our children”. Eydar added that the pope “is largely responsible for the rise in waves of antisemitism in the world”.
Israel’s former ambassador to the Vatican echoed some of that criticism.
Raphael Schutz, who served in the role from 2021-2024 told the Kan broadcaster that 1. Francis “ignored” attacks against Israel 2. and “caused suffering” with his defence of Palestinians in Gaza — troublingly lopsided because no defence of Israel
