Israeli Defense Force Archives

Israeli Defense Force

The fiery death of self-immolation: a martyr’s moral clarity or misguided calumny?

March 25, 2024

As we enter Holy Week and commemorate the exemplary martyrdom, it seems that martyrdom in general – or a misplaced understanding of it – is reasserting itself. Last month, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old US airman, doused himself with liquid and set himself on fire outside Israel’s embassy in Washington, DC. In a livestream of the event, he

Rift between Vatican and Israel grows after Gaza remarks by top papal advisor

February 15, 2024

ROME – A growing rift between the Vatican and Israel was exacerbated 14 February, when the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See hit back against a top Vatican official who said the ongoing Israeli military offensive in Gaza is disproportionate. On the margins of a 13 Feb. event commemorating the 95th anniversary of the Lateran

Notes from the Holy Land: Epiphany in Bethlehem with the Franciscans (Part 2)

January 08, 2024

Fr Luke Gregory OFM is a Franciscan friar based in Rhodes who journeys frequently to the Holy Land and is a director of the charity Pro Terra Sancta, which assists Christians and others in the region. Here is the second instalment (written 7 January 2024) of reflections from his diary of his time in Bethlehem

Cardinal Nichols ‘heartbroken’ over attack on Gaza’s only Catholic church that he knows personally

December 18, 2023

LEICESTER, Crux – Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of the UK’s Roman Catholics, says he is “heartbroken” over the attack on a Catholic compound in Gaza by the Israeli military that left two women dead. On 16 December, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, announced that an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) sniper killed

The plight of Christians in the Holy Land this Christmas

December 17, 2023

This editorial from the Catholic Herald reflects on the attack on Christians in Gaza yesterday. There is one part of the Church where the celebrations for Christmas have already been put on hold, and that is the Holy Land, where Church leaders encouraged Christians to curb the usual festivities and decorations out of respect for

Gaza’s only Catholic church damaged by shrapnel

December 11, 2023

The sole Catholic church in Gaza was damaged over the weekend as a result of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that shrapnel from Israeli military strikes on buildings in the vicinity of the Holy Family Church had destroyed water tanks and solar panels on the roof of

US bishops call all parties to ‘cessation of violence’ as Biden backs Israel

October 10, 2023

NEW YORK – After an attack on Israel by Hamas and subsequent retaliation by Israel has left more than more than 1,300 people dead and thousands more injured, the U.S. bishops’ conference has called for a cessation of violence from all sides, and for Catholics in the U.S. to pray for peace. “May all who

Pope offers condolences to families of three murdered Israeli teens

July 01, 2014

Vatican spokesman calls the killings 'terrible and dramatic'