Israel’s Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Itzhak Nissim, attacked Pope Paul VI today for his implied criticism of Israel’s reprisal raid on Beirut Airport and accused the Pope and the Vatican of conducting a “general campaign” against the Jewish religion and the Jewish people. The Chief Rabbi alleged that the Pope was not moved by the lives lost in the terrorist bombing of the Machane Yehuda market place in Jerusalem last month “but he hurried to console Lebanon after the destruction of a few planes without loss of life.” Rabbi Nissim claimed that Jews have known for some time of the Pope’s allegedly one-sided attitude “but until now we have kept silent because of the Pope’s high office.”
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