Israel protests to the Vatican over Tawakkol Karman’s statements regarding Gaza

The Israeli embassy to the Vatican protested the statements of the Yemeni human rights activist and Nobel Prize winner, Tawakkol Karman, in which she accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza.

The Israeli embassy protests after the Vatican condemned the Gaza “massacre.”

The Israeli embassy said it felt “dissatisfied and shocked” by the statements made by Karman on Saturday evening during a conference organized by the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, which was established by Pope Francis.

Karman, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her role in the “Arab Spring” uprisings, said in a speech to the audience in St. Peter’s Cathedral Square, “The world stands silent in the face of the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

The Israeli embassy published an open letter on Monday on the “X” social media platform in which it rejected Karman’s accusations and described them as “lies.”

“The (holy) site has been blatantly desecrated with anti-Semitic rhetoric,” she added.

She also regretted "such a speech that was delivered without anyone feeling the moral duty to intervene and stop this disgrace."

After Karman mentioned Gaza, she received warm applause from the audience, which consisted of her fellow Nobel laureates, politicians and church officials, but the Pope himself was not present.

Relations between the Vatican and Israel have become increasingly tense since the beginning of the war in Gaza, as Jewish communities accused Pope Francis of failing to describe the invasion of the Palestinian Strip as an act of self-defense after the attack launched by Palestinian factions on October 7th.

Last March, the Israeli embassy in the Vatican criticized Foreign Minister Cardinal Pietro Parolin after he accused the Israeli army of causing a "massacre" in Gaza .

The embassy initially denounced his statement as “disgraceful,” but later said it was a translation error and that it had meant to say “unfortunate.”