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Pope Francis showed ‘major sign of support' for successor, says expert

Pope Francis showed ‘major sign of support' for successor, says expert

Channel 408-05-2025

We're joined by Canadian writer Randy Boyagoda, who's also a professor at the University of Toronto.
He has written widely on Pope Francis and met him on two occasions.

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This Montreal bridge is lighting up in Oilers colours for the Stanley Cup final

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How slaughter and starvation of Gaza's children are creating a sinister new world order
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Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The war of words between European and Canadian political leaders and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provides a timely reminder of how any semblance of a positive vision for global governance continues to die in a world of division, anger, fear, and hate. October 7, 2023 is a date that will live in infamy. Israel has the right to defend itself and deal with Hamas following its attacks on that day. 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A girl appears to be in distress after receiving food at Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza City, earlier this month (Picture: Abood Abusalama) | Middle East Images/AFP via Getty The real pariah To suggest that Keir Starmer, Canada's Mark Carney and France's Emmanuel Macron, who called for Israel to halt its latest offensive, are in any way responsible for the tragic and brutal murders of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington DC and accuse them of emboldening Hamas speaks volumes about this desperate Prime Minister. Netanyahu is the real pariah in this story. Israel is a democracy, a friend and an ally. But Netanyahu is using claims of antisemitism – a real and unacceptable problem – as a shield to defend his government's indefensible actions. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad People are angry and sickened by the images of destruction and death being shown nightly on TV screens worldwide, but downplayed in Israel. This is a moral issue. 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Why Israeli PM is wrong about UK. We just want Gaza's children to be fed
Why Israeli PM is wrong about UK. We just want Gaza's children to be fed

Scotsman

time5 days ago

  • Scotsman

Why Israeli PM is wrong about UK. We just want Gaza's children to be fed

Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... When the invitation arrived, my first thought surprised and frightened me, more than a little. 'Would I be safe if I accepted the invitation to the event at the Israeli Embassy.' It is not something that has ever crossed my mind about any of the events I have been invited to as an MP in the eight years since I was elected. But it was there, and very real. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I felt the same anxiety a few days ago when I heard of the murder of Israeli Embassy staff in Washington DC. Is anyone now safe? It is not that this outrage was any worse or any more deplorable than what we are seeing in Gaza, or the Israeli people experienced on October 7. A girl holds a container at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat camp for refugees in central Gaza Strip (Picture: Eyad Baba) | AFP via Getty Images Retribution upon restribution It has long passed the point where sufficient adjectives are available to encapsulate the horror. But this latest murder somehow felt like a harbinger of even worse to come, that the conflict is now way beyond the control or even influence of the international community. And in the Middle East, it seems that retribution upon retribution is being sought with ever worsening tactics. Food is now a weapon of war. Humanitarian aid is being used as some sort of means of controlling people who have been left with nothing else but to fight for life. For 12 weeks, Israel blocked aid to Gaza and while our government, and indeed all political parties, recognise that country's right to defend itself against Hamas, the situation has now gone far beyond that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Last week the UK Government, together with France and Canada, warned that they were not prepared to 'stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions'. And that if the renewed military action and further expansion in the West Bank did not stop, they would 'not hesitate to take further action including targeted sanctions'. No place for Hamas There will be those who will say that it is too little, too late and that too many people have died, both Israelis and Palestinians. I know that I have felt that the pursuit of peace and the two-state solution which so many of us crave has been increasingly hopeless. And my frustrations that the Israeli government is not prepared to listen even to its own citizens who want an end to this war reached new heights with Netanyahu's reaction to that joint UK, French and Canadian statement. They had, he claimed, 'effectively said that they want Hamas to remain in power'. That is so far from the truth as to be nonsense. Every political party in this country, my own Liberal Democrats included, have made it abundantly clear that there can be no place for Hamas in the future of Gaza. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad We do want peace, for both the Palestinians and Israel. We also want an end to both the resultant Islamophobia and antisemitism which has reached previously unknown levels in this country. Perhaps more than anything else, I want to see the children of Gaza fed and the families of the hostages enjoy shabbat with their loved ones again.

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