That is a terrible policy decision, if the church actually did come out with this type of edict. I’m not trying to besmirch your veracity here either.
Israel has a right to exist where it is. I believe that one issue alone is crucial. Christians need to stand beside Israel.
If the leadership of a religion comes out with a policy that denies Israel’s right to exist, it has pretty much sealed it’s own fate in my opinion.
Above and beyond whether Israel is God’s chosen people, they are human beings that have gathered in Israel and have a right to be recognized and respected.
Israel stands where it is with my support.
Please folks, the Church came out with no such “edict.” This was the statement of one Melkite bishop who is the head of the AMERICAN Melkite Church. He himself was born in Lebanon and has been ravingly anti-Israel since forever. One of the problems is that Rome, for better or for worse, has a sort of hands-off attitude toward the Eastern Rites and their personnel.
However, he hardly reflects the official position of the Church, and in fact the official statement of the Synod was mostly a criticism of Islam and of the treatment they are receiving from Muslims in the Middle East now. The interesting thing is that L’Osservatore’s editor, the unpleasant liberal/leftist Fr. Lombardi who recently cleverly edited some remarks by a Latin American bishop to make it look as if the bishops were supporting contraceptives, cut most of their comments about Islam and they appeared only in the secular press and were not even widely reported there.