Last update - 00:00 06/03/2007
German Jewish group slams bishops' comments on Mideast trip
By The Associated Press
BERLIN - Germany's main Jewish group complained Tuesday about reported criticism of Israel by two of the country's Roman Catholic bishops during a recent visit to the Middle East, and a church official said he regretted the note of discord.
Charlotte Knobloch, the head of the Central Council of Jews, described the reported remarks in a statement as dreadful and completely unacceptable.
Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that, during a weekend visit to the West Bank, Eichstaett Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke said: "Photos of the inhuman Warsaw ghetto at Yad Vashem in the morning, in the evening we go to the ghetto in Ramallah - that blows your lid off."
According to the report, Augsburg Bishop Walter Mixa also spoke of ghetto-like conditions and described the situation as nearly racism.
"To attribute to the state of Israel and its government racist motives, in the style of Nazi Germany, not only fails to appreciate the facts of the Middle East conflict - and Israel's security situation - but also serves cliches that are verging on anti-Semitism," Knobloch said.
She said the reported comments were particularly disappointing after the head of the German Bishops Conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, made convincing remarks at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
The bishops' conference stressed that Lehmann had underlined their support for Israel's existence and their recognition of the threat it faces.
Conference secretary Hans Langendoerfer acknowledged that, during a visit to Bethlehem, a few very personal remarks were made as a result of individuals' emotional dismay that already were self-critically set right - including the reference to the World War II Warsaw ghetto.
"I regret this tone of discord that has crept into the trip," he said in a statement.