ENI – “I implore an end to the violence which must be denounced in all its forms and a restoration of the truce on the Gaza Strip,” Pope Benedict XVI said in his weekly prayer in late December. “I call on the international community to do all it can to help the Israelis and Palestinians [to not] give in to the perverse logic of confrontation and violence but to favour the path of dialogue and negotiations.”
Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said in a statement that he condemned “the violence against Gaza” and he called on “governments in the region and abroad” to seek to protect “those who are at risk … on both sides of the border.”
In Jerusalem, Rabbis for Human Rights issued a statement saying, “Many Israelis will quote from the Talmudic Tractate Sanhedrin, 'When somebody is coming to kill you, get up earlier and kill him first.' However, few are aware of how the Talmud continues, teaching us only to use the minimum necessary force and drawing a sharp contrast between defending ourselves against those attacking us, and harming an innocent third-party. These are also principles in International Humanitarian Law … Both the Jewish tradition and international law do not allow the harming of innocent civilians.”
