Among world leaders’ criticism of Israel’s attempt to defend itself against Hamas by striking its bases in the Gaza Strip, the condemnation of a high-ranking Vatican official stands out for its bad taste. The Vatican’s Justice and Peace minister compared the Gaza Strip to a large concentration camp.

“Defenseless populations are always the ones who pay. Look at the conditions in Gaza: More and more, it resembles a big concentration camp,” Cardinal Renato Martino said on January 7.

This statement is the most intense criticism Israel has received from the Vatican since the start of the Gaza War. Yet Pope Benedict xvi did nothing to repudiate these comments during his January 8 speech to the Vatican Diplomatic Corps. Rather, he implicitly reiterated the criticism by condemning Israel and Hamas equally for the violence.

The Israelis have responded to these condemnations by lamenting that the Vatican seems to be listening to Hamas propaganda and ignoring the Palestinians’ numerous crimes against Israel. “The vocabulary of Hamas propaganda, coming from a member of the College of Cardinals, is a shocking and disappointing phenomenon,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

This anti-Israel sentiment is not a one-off event. Author Jason Burke noted in the Observer: “The pope … sparked bewilderment when he made no mention of anti-Semitism, or the fact that the Nazis killed millions of people because they were Jewish, in a speech last year at Auschwitz. He also failed to acknowledge that there might be some degree of collective responsibility of the German people” (July 8, 2007; emphasis ours). It is amazing that a German pope—speaking at Auschwitz, of all places—could not come up with some sort of statement expressing remorse or regret for what the German people did to the Jews during the Holocaust. But judging by the Vatican’s past and present statements about the Jews, its anti-Zionist stance is more a hallmark than an afterthought.

While some European leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, seem to be leaning toward Israel’s side in this conflict, it seems that more Europeans agree with the pope’s outlook toward Israel than with Merkel’s, if previous opinion polls are any indication. A poll conducted by the Bertelsmann Foundation in 2007 found that three in ten Germans have no qualms about comparing Israel today with Nazi Germany—just as Cardinal Martino has done.

Europe is in great danger of taking on a very pro-Vatican, anti-Semitic outlook on world affairs. For more information on this disturbing trend, read “Angela Merkel’s Historic Holocaust Speech (But Does the Pope Agree?)” by editor in chief Gerald Flurry.