A Catholic’s Case for Defending Israel and the Jewish People https://mosaicmagazine.com/picks/religion-holidays/2021/06/a-catholics-case-for-defending-israel-and-the-jewish-people/

June 14, 2021 | Shannon Walsh
About the author:

Responding to the recent wave of anti-Semitic attack and incidents in the United States, Shannon Walsh calls on her fellow Roman Catholics not to remain passive:

Catholics have a unique and urgent responsibility to confront anti-Semitism wherever they find it. In the words of Nostra Aetate, the first Catholic document to condemn anti-Semitism in all its forms, Christians are linked to the Jewish people by a “bond that spiritually ties the people of the new covenant to Abraham’s stock.” On last year’s anniversary of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre, I . . . called on Catholic educators to take a more active role in the fight against anti-Semitism. The spike in anti-Jewish violence over the last three weeks compels me to extend that call to all American Catholics.

Pope Francis has been outspoken against anti-Semitism throughout his tenure at the Vatican, and even goes so far as to name anti-Zionism as the same sin under a different name. In 2015, he told the World Jewish Congress, “To attack Jews is anti-Semitism, but an outright attack on the state of Israel is also anti-Semitism. . . . There may be political disagreements between governments and on political issues, but the state of Israel has every right to exist in safety and prosperity.”

Catholics should continue to pray for peace and understanding in the land where Jesus walked. However, Catholics must also understand that invalidating Israel’s right to exist and condemning it as an “apartheid state” is not only unhelpful but anti-Semitic. Attacking Jews under the banner of “Free Palestine” is beyond anti-Semitic. It is undeniably evil.

Read more on Providence: https://providencemag.com/2021/06/being-catholic-means-standing-up-jews-antisemitism/