The Pope receives Israeli President Herzog: the search for a road map for the people of Gaza
With Secretary of State Parolin, the most 'concrete' dossiers will be addressed, including the Holy Places
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Key points
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The 'resumption' of the international activity of Leo XIV sees as its first major appointment the audience on Thursday 4 September of the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who will then also see the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The meeting falls at a very delicate moment, coinciding with growing international pressure on Tel Aviv, which is acting on two fronts: increased military expansion in Gaza City, an action foreseen by the second phase of Operation Gideon's Chariots to realise the objectives of the war, and the approval of a new settlement in the E1 zone that practically splits the West Bank in two, as well as the threat of annexation of Area C of the Palestinian Territories, which is already under full Israeli control without ever having been formally annexed.
By many observers, the meeting is seen as a 'mission impossible' by the American Pope, but perhaps one of the last cards of international diplomacy towards Tel Aviv.
The 'yellow' of Herzog's invitation
.The mission to Rome, according to initial reports from Herzog's office, was organised by the Holy See: in practice it would have been the pope who 'invited' the president, a circumstance in fact denied by the Holy See which recalled that it is the Pope who accepts requests for audiences. The little information short-circuit on the evening of Tuesday 3 September in itself changes little, but it certainly signals how the meeting was preceded by an intense exchange of diplomatic communications, which arrived not coincidentally after some tensions following statements by Leo against the bombing, the lack of food for the civilian population and the project of forced displacement of the population. An article in the Middle East Forum Observer in mid-August, criticising an article by Jesuit Father David Neuhaus - born Jewish, professor of sacred scripture at the seminary of the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Latins and in the past patriarchal vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics and for migrants - who in the Roman Observer had addressed the topic "Reading the Bible after the destruction of Gaza", in which he stated that God's Word cannot be used to justify wars and occupations. In the commentary on the Middle East website, the Roman Observer was called 'anti-Semitic'. But the sensitive issue arose after the article was relayed on X by Israel's ambassador to the Holy See, Yaron Sideman. The fact had not triggered any reaction and the matter ended there, but certainly the agenda of diplomatic relations with Israel had to be revived.
Herzog was at the settlement mass .
The meeting between Pope Leo XVI and Herzog "will focus on the efforts to rbring back the hostages from Gaza, the fight against anti-Semitism in the world and the protection of Christian communities in the Middle East", and afterwards, the Israeli president will visit the Vatican Archives and Library, before returning to Israel in the afternoon. This is the second meeting between Pope Leo and the President. On 18 May, Herzog (Labour) had attended the new pontiff's inauguration ceremony and on that occasion said he was grateful that one of his first acts had been to call for the "immediate return of all the hostages" still imprisoned in the Strip. It should be remembered that no prominent Israeli representative had attended Francis's funeral to emphasise that relations with the Argentinean pope were minimal, and the same with the Jewish communities of the diaspora (including the Italian one). Herzog's visit therefore had a "new direction" value, so much so that the president himself had said he hoped for the beginning of "a new era of cooperation between faiths" during his papacy and the contextual strengthening of "friendship between Jews, Christians and Muslims". On this occasion, Herzog had also invited Leo XIV to Israel.
