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Pope Leo XIV renews his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Pope Leo XIV renews his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Yahoo2 days ago
APTOPIX Italy Pope
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV renewed his call on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect international laws and the obligation to protect civilians.
'I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,' the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.
Pope Leo also expressed his 'deep sorrow' for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest.
'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, the indiscriminate use of force, and the forced displacement of populations,' the pope added.
The shelling of the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza also damaged the church compound, where hundreds of Palestinians have been sheltering from the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 21st month. Israel expressed regret over what it described as an accident and said it was investigating.
'We need to dialogue and abandon weapons,' the pope said earlier Sunday, after presiding over Mass at the nearby Cathedral of Albano.
'The world no longer tolerates war,' Leo told reporters waiting for him outside the cathedral.
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AFP journalists sound alarm about dire conditions faced by hungry colleagues in Gaza
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AFP journalists sound alarm about dire conditions faced by hungry colleagues in Gaza

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Columbia's finally cracking down on its Jew-hating goons. What took so long?
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No, Israel Is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza
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No, Israel Is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza

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In 2016 and 2017, under Barack Obama and Trump, the United States aided the government of Iraq in retaking the city of Mosul, which was captured by the Islamic State three years earlier and turned into a booby-trapped, underground fortress. Here's a description in The Times of the way the war was waged to eliminate ISIS. As Iraqi forces have advanced, American airstrikes have at times leveled entire blocks — including the one in Mosul Jidideh this month that residents said left as many as 200 civilians dead. At the same time, the Islamic State fighters have used masses of civilians as human shields, and have been indiscriminate about sniper and mortar fire. This fight, carried out over nine months, had broad bipartisan and international support. By some estimates, it left as many as 11,000 civilians dead. I don't recall any campus protests. Some readers may say that even if the war in Gaza isn't genocide, it has gone on too long and needs to end. That's a fair point of view, shared by a majority of Israelis. So why does the argument over the word 'genocide' matter? Two reasons. First, while some pundits and scholars may sincerely believe the genocide charge, it is also used by anti-Zionists and antisemites to equate modern Israel with Nazi Germany. The effect is to license a new wave of Jew hatred, stirring enmity not only for the Israeli government but also for any Jew who supports Israel as a genocide supporter. It's a tactic Israel haters have pursued for years with inflated or bogus charges of Israeli massacres or war crimes that, on close inspection, weren't. The genocide charge is more of the same but with deadlier effects. Second, if genocide — a word that was coined only in the 1940s — is to retain its status as a uniquely horrific crime, then the term can't be promiscuously applied to any military situation we don't like. Wars are awful enough. But the abuse of the term 'genocide' runs the risk of ultimately blinding us to real ones when they unfold. The war in Gaza should be brought to an end in a way that ensures it is never repeated. To call it a genocide does nothing to advance that aim, except to dilute the meaning of a word we cannot afford to cheapen. The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We'd like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here's our email: letters@ Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, WhatsApp and Threads.

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