VATICAN CITY — Israel said Sunday that a meeting of Middle East bishops was hijacked by enemies of the Jewish state, after the gathering at the Vatican largely blamed Israel for conflict in the region.
In a communique at the end of their two-week meeting, the bishops demanded that Israel accept U.N. resolutions calling for an end to its occupation of Arab lands, and told Israel it shouldn’t use the Bible to justify “injustices” against the Palestinians.
“We express our disappointment that this important synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda,” Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon of Israel said in a statement Sunday.
“The synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority,” he said.
The meeting was convened by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the future of embattled Christians in the largely Muslim region. It formally ended with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday during which the pontiff called for greater religious freedom and peace in the Middle East.
