Shimon Peres - The Vatican's President of Israel

Shimon Peres - The Vatican's President of Israel

by Barry Chamish

In 1979, Yitzhak Rabin published his autobiography, within was a one-line offbeat quote. He said that unlike all Jewish children growing up in Poland, Shimon Peres spent his early education at a Jesuit school. It was an odd fact and I took a mental note of it without understanding its significance...

Until I broke my first attention-getting story as a political journalist:

In March 1994, the newspaper Chadashotrevealed a most remarkable secret of the Middle East "peace" process. A friend of Shimon Peres, the French intellectual Marek Halter (pictured to the right), claimed in an interview that in May 1993, he delivered a letter from Peres to the pope. Within, Peres promised to internationalize Jerusalem, granting the UN political control of the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Vatican hegemony of the holy sites within. The UN would give the PLO a capital within its new territory and East Jerusalem would become a kind of free trade zone of world diplomacy.

Halter's claim was backed by the Italian newspaper La Stampawhich added that Arafat was apprised of the agreement and it was included in the secret clauses of the Declaration Of Principles signed in Washington in September 1993.  

In March 1995, the Israeli radio station Arutz Sheva was leaked a cable from the Israeli Embassy in Rome to Peres's Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirming the handover of Jerusalem to the Vatican. This cable was printed on the front page of the radical leftwing Israeli newspaper, Ha’aretz two days later. A scandal erupted and numerous rabbis who had invited Peres for Passover services cancelled their invitations in protest of his treachery. Peres reacted by claiming that the cable was real but that someone had whited out the word, "not;" the cable really said that Israel would "not" hand Jerusalem over to the holy pontiff.  

Illustrating the sorry political state of Israel's rabbis, they accepted this cockamamie excuse and re-invited Peres to their tables. However, in the widely distributed minutes of a meeting with Clinton in 1997, Peres reiterated his diplomacy, ending with the words, "as I had previously promised the Holy See."

From then on, my view of diplomacy was skewed toward the truth they weren't letting us in on. A few of you, hopefully even more than a few, will recall my perfectly logical timeline of some long forgotten Washington peace talks:

• Aug 30 - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak holds "secret" meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah in Amman.
• Aug 31 - Four Israelis, one pregnant, slaughtered in terror attack outside Hebron.
• Sept. 1 - Barak announces that Israel will divide Jerusalem.
• Sept. 1 - Pres. Mubarak and French president Sarkozy meet to coordinate European position in next day's Washington "peace" talks.
• Sept. 2 - Israeli President Shimon Peres meets the Pope in the Vatican just as...
• Sept. 2 - Netanyahu, Abbas, Mubarak, and Abdullah meet Obama in Washington.

Logical, only if you are utterly convinced that Israel's President Shimon Peres is a lowlife Vatican spy. Since my appearance in the recent release of the Steve Stavro’s DVD, Clear and Present Evil, the issue of Peres' real loyalties has arisen once more, in certain circles. I present mainstream articles of varying ages. Who knows if any of the URLs are still up? Now, tell me if you see a pattern:

Peres Meets With Pope in Vatican

Israel's indefatigable Shimon Peres met with Pope Benedict XVI today, and submitted an invitation to visit Israel from Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

By Hillel Fendel

April 6, 2006 / 8 Nisan 5766

The two met for 40 minutes in the Vatican, and the Pope said he hopes to visit Israel sometime in the first half of next year. They said afterwards that they had discussed Middle East matters. "I definitely believe that a visit by the Pope can influence the peace process," Peres told reporters.

Peres is reported, in 1994, to have promised the Vatican official status in Jerusalem.

In February 2000, the Vatican and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement calling for an internationally guaranteed special status for Jerusalem. The agreement stated that a special statute would protect "equality before the law of the three monotheistic religions [in Jerusalem], the proper identity and sacred character of the city, [and] freedom of access" to the city's holy sites.

Israel objected, saying that freedom of religion is already protected throughout the country. It also opposed the Vatican's treatment of the PA as an independent country.

Shortly afterwards, Pope John Paul II visited Israel, and - unlike one of his predecessors, Pope Paul VI, who visited in 1964 - agreed to come to Jerusalem. Pope John Paul met with the Chief Rabbis in their Jerusalem offices, and visited Yad Vashem as well. Pope Paul, on the other hand, refused to visit Jerusalem, leading then-Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim to boycott his visit altogether.

During his visit in 2000, Pope John Paul II conducted a prayer service in Bethlehem, and announced that the Vatican had always recognized the Palestinians' national rights to a homeland. Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, Dean of Yeshivat Ateret Cohanim, said in response that the Pope's goal was simply to obtain a foothold in Jerusalem for the Church, and that his visit was one way the Pope hoped to reach this goal. 

"If the Catholics would at least stop supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state in our land, and stop supporting the other Arab nations around us - then this could be considered a significant step," Rabbi Aviner said.

Pope John Paul II did not expressly apologize for the role played by the Church, and its silence, during the Holocaust. He said instead that the Church is "deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place... I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the 20th century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews..."

Former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau has said that an earlier pope, Pope Pius XII, refused several requests by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog to meet with him before and during the Holocaust to discuss how the Church could help save Jewish lives. After the war, too, Chief Rabbi Herzog asked for the Pope's assistance in locating Jewish orphans who were cared for by Catholic families, and again, the Pope refused.

The current pope has been following in the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul in trying to improve Jewish-Catholic relations. 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/101620

Peres Says Pope Hopes To Visit Israel In '07

Both Condemn All Terrorist Attacks

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 6, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that Benedict XVI had told him he hoped he would be able to visit the Holy Land in 2007.

During a papal audience today, Peres, a senior Kadima party politician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, transmitted to the Holy Father the invitation presented by interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls published a statement after the audience, confirming the invitation but making no mention of a date for the trip.

"In the talks there was an exchange of opinions on the topic of peace in the Holy Land, in respect of the United Nations resolutions and agreements reached to date," the Vatican spokesman said.

"In this context, all forms of terrorism, regardless of any pretext to justify them, were unanimously condemned," Navarro Valls noted.

He added: "Relations between the state of Israel and the Holy See were also examined -- in the light of agreements endorsed in 1993 and 1997 -- as well as the relations of Israeli authorities with the country's Christian communities."

After being received by the Bishop of Rome, Peres met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

On hand were Oded Ben-Hur, the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, and Monsignor Pietro Parolin, undersecretary of the Vatican section for relations with states.

http://www.zenit.org/article-15728?l=english

Peres Raises 'World Capital' Solution for Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Shimon Peres, the head of Israel's opposition Labor Party, has suggested resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem by putting its holy sites under U.N. stewardship, a spokesman said Tuesday. His plan calls for declaring a holy area of sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims in Jerusalem's old walled city as a "world capital," with the U.N. Secretary-General serving as mayor, Peres' spokesman Yoram Dori told Reuters.

Israel claims Jerusalem as its capital, including the Arab eastern part captured in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in a move that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians want to make East Jerusalem capital of the state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) under a U.S.-backed peace plan. Peres raised the idea in a meeting with visiting Russian diplomats-in-training when they asked how he envisaged a solution to conflicting Israeli-Palestinian claims to the city, Dori said. Israel has previously rejected proposals raised by the Vatican to internationalize Jerusalem.

Israeli leaders to visit Vatican

Two leading Israeli politicians will visit the Vatican in coming weeks, according to Italian media reports.

Tsipi Livni, the Israeli minister of foreign affairs, will meet on March 22 with Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States. And on April 6, former prime minister Shimon Peres will be received in a private audience by Pope Benedict XVI.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=43077

September 4, 2008 -- by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & News Agencies

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas will be meeting his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres on Thursday evening in Italy. Israeli sources said that both leaders will be discussing outstanding political issues, security and economic concerns. The meeting comes ahead of a special conference in Rome on Friday, over relations between Israel and the Arab World, where Peres is supposed to meet with the vice-President of the United States, Dick Cheney, as well as the representative of the European Union, Manuel Brosu, the sources revealed.

Pope Urges Peres to Advance Peace

Ronny Sofer July 14, 2007
Pope Benedict XVI urged Shimon Peres to advance peace between Israel and the Palestinians in his new capacity as the President of the Jewish State.
Peres will be sworn in as president at a special ceremony at the Knesset on Sunday evening.
"On the eve of your appointment as the President of the State of Israel I would like to express my deepest wishes and congratulate you for you appointment to the highest ranking position in your country," the Pope wrote in a letter sent to Peres.
"Many people around the world, as well as Israel's citizens expect you to push the government and other relevant bodies to do everything to advance peace," the Pope added.
"Mr. President," the Pope added, "Your reputation and achievements are exceptional, clear and absolute in the field of peace and the pursuit of justice. I am sure you will continue to influence and incite courage in other leaders to deal with the challenges of the future in the clear hope to advance the good a peace."
"This will be the best way to defeat the deadly terror and violence that are condemned by the whole world. The terrorists are betraying humanity," he said.
Israel's Ambassador to Italy Oded Ben-Horin said the Pope's letter was personal, warm and unusual.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3425234,00.html

Do All Roads Lead Peres To Rome?

Beit Hanassi would neither confirm nor deny on Sunday a Ma’arivreport that President Shimon Peres plans to make his first trip abroad as president in September and visit Rome.
The report said that Peres planned to spend four days in Italy, during which he would hold talks with President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Romano Prodi, as well as with Pope Benedict XVI.
If Peres were to go to Rome, he would likely participate in an international conference that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa are also expected to attend.

Peres urges Pope to ignore row over Pius XII and visit Israel

Peres on Sunday told reporters the issue should not be a barrier. "The visit to the holy country is nothing to do with anger or disputes," Peres said. "It's holy all the time, it's holy for all of us."

Benedict has repeatedly defended Pius, saying he worked "secretly and silently" during World War Two to "avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews possible.."

At an Oct. 9 commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Pius' death, Benedict said he prayed the process which could lead to Pius' beatification "can proceed happily."

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/2.209/peres-urges-pope-to-ignore-row-over-pius-xii-and-visit-israel-1.255655

'Peres wants to yield sites to Vatican'

President reportedly wants to give up sovereignty of 6 key sites; Army Radio reports Yishai opposes move.

President Shimon Peres is willing to hand over Israeli sovereignty of key Christian holy sites to the Vatican, a proposition that is reportedly opposed by Interior Minister Eli Yishai and that has ruffled feathers among other senior government officials, Army Radio reported on Monday.

Beit Hanassi could not be reached for comment on Monday, as it does not issue statements to the press while the president is abroad.

According to the radio report, the president is exerting pressure on the government to give up sovereignty over six sites, including the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Coenaculum on Mount Zion, Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and the Church of the Multiplication on the Kinneret.

The report quoted Beit Hanassi as saying that talks had been going on long enough, and that the time had come to compromise with the Vatican and come to an agreement. On Sunday, according to the report, Beit Hanassi requested that the Interior Ministry sign documents ceding sovereignty. However, Yishai refused. "Every concession like this limits the Israeli government's ability to function as a sovereign government in the area," the interior minister was quoted as saying...Former Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin, however, was quoted as saying that Israel had not behaved satisfactorily in recent dealings with the Vatican. "We need to compromise with them," he said.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=141116

(ANSA) - Jerusalem, May 19 - Rome is to host a permanent council for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, the city's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, announced on Tuesday. Speaking after a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Alemanno said the council would be located at Rome's 2,000-year-old symbol of peace, the Ara Pacis. ''The idea is to set up a permanent office at the Ara Pacis, providing a permanent, complete council tasked with working towards reconciliation,'' said the mayor. Alemanno said he would also discuss the idea with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later on Tuesday. The mayor said he hoped to launch the council on April 21, 2010, the birthday of Rome's mythical founding, in an event attended by political and religious leaders. Saying he was hopeful Pope Benedict XVI would be there, Alemanno explained that Peres had ''underlined the importance of involving leading world figures in such an initiative, which Rome is ideally placed to do''. According to Alemanno, a similar idea was raised over a year ago but was shelved during the change of government in May 2008.

I will assume you all saw the pattern. Now, does your leader commute regularly between your capital and Rome? Is your leader trying to give half of your capital to the Vatican? Is he defending a papal Holocaust denier? Is he giving his successor unlimited sovereignty over your land?

If the answer is “no” to all inquiries, then Shimon Peres, Vatican agent, isn't your president.

http://www.barrychamish.com/newsletters2012/Peres_Vatican1.html