JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday that a Palestinian state backed by Iran would jeopardize Israel’s security. He urged the Roman Catholic leader, who favors an independent Palestine, to turn his moral authority against Iran and its threats toward the Jewish state.
The two men met in Nazareth for about 15 minutes, sharing views on the Middle East.
“In him I think we found an attentive ear,” Netanyahu said later.
Benedict thrust himself into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during a week-long pilgrimage to the Holy Land that ends today.
In the West Bank on Wednesday, he called for international pressure to establish an independent Palestinian state, an outcome Netanyahu is reluctant to endorse as the goal of peace talks with the West Bank’s U.S.-backed Palestinian leaders.
The Vatican’s support for a Palestinian state is not new, but Benedict’s vigorous advocacy added to a chorus of appeals from Arab and Western leaders including President Barack Obama, who is to meet with Netanyahu at the White House next week.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the meeting in Nazareth “centered on how the peace process can be advanced.”
An Israeli official who briefed reporters said Netanyahu told Benedict that “we don’t want a terror state backed by Iran to rise alongside us and jeopardize Israel’s safety.”
Hamas, the Islamic group that won the most recent Palestinian elections and controls the Gaza Strip, is an ally of Iran. Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 1 television that he had asked the 82-year-old pontiff “as a moral figure to make his voice heard loudly and continuously against the declarations from Iran and of their intention to destroy Israel.”
Israeli officials said Netanyahu promised to consider two Vatican requests: long-term visas to Israel for 500 priests from Arab countries and resident status in Israel for West Bank Christians with spouses in Israel.
