Israel's snub of Pope Francis funeral: Serious mistake or correct decision?

The funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday tomorrow promises to be a major event, with world leaders and hundreds of millions of believers communing physically or spiritually with the deceased pontiff.

There's one major, glaring exception: the State of Israel.

While Israel does have a formal delegation at the funeral in Italy tomorrow, it is far from the high-level, star-studded delegations sent by many other countries, including the United States. President Donald Trump plans to attend, Prime Minister Netanyahu will not.

The reason for this is not anti-Catholic or anti-Christian animus per se. Israel's takes pride in its Christian community and often touts how save it is to practice the faith in Israel.

No, the current clash between Israel and the Vatican has everything to do with the attitude and public statements of Pope Francis regarding October 7, the war in Gaza, and the hostages.

As former ambassador to Italy Dror Eydar put it in a particularly scathing op-ed in Israel Hayom:

"The day following the massacre, he gave a sermon at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican and failed to mention, even once, the atrocities committed by barbarians against the people of God. Throughout the war, he consistently criticized Israel with venomous language and even questioned whether Israel was committing "genocide" in Gaza. He repeatedly emphasized the children in Gaza, often neglecting the children in Israel."

October 7 was a watershed for Israelis and Jews worldwide. We learned very, very quickly who our real friends were, who our real enemies were, and who claimed to be a friend and threw us under the bus when it really mattered. And whatever the deceased Pontiff's intentions, his actions looked like he was throwing us under the bus and then running us over a few times for good measure.

That said, I think that despite that - despite the searing pain, anger, and hurt at Pope Francis' actions and words during Israel's time of crisis - the decision to snub the funeral is a serious diplomatic error.

Diplomacy sometimes, maybe more than sometimes, involves biting the bullet and paying at least grudging homage to world leaders, even ones you don't like or think did you wrong.

Precisely because Israel has fewer friends than it thought it did, potentially alienating a billion Catholics by snubbing the funeral of their spiritual leader is just madness. Many, even those who are pro-Israel, will likely take it quite personally, and then become deaf to entreaties and pro-Israel arguments.

Israel has had to deal with popes who were cold if not hostile to Israel, especially in its early years. Theology, clashes over moral philosophy, and even lingering antisemitism were and maybe sometimes still are real issues.

Israel can weather those. What it cannot weather and risk is to lose even more popular support, especially in countries friendly to her such as the United States, where Catholics already have a slight majority that views Israel negatively.

So Israel, I beseech you: Send someone serious to the funeral tomorrow. If not the pope, then for his flock.