Page 94 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola

should arise when Jews themselves are suffering so greatly is indicative of the sickening contradiction of this prejudice, known as the ‘longest hatred’.
There were also those who saw fit to blame ‘the Jews’ or Israel itself for the massacre, through appeal to the 75-year ‘context’ of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Let me dispel any ambiguity when I say that no social justice issue or political perspective can ever justify or mitigate the horror of the barbaric, premeditated mass slaughter of civilians that took place on October 7. A principled struggle cannot be won by unprincipled means. To adopt a narrative that affords some measure of ‘respectability’ to the terrorism of October 7 is to be guilty of what the renowned religious leader Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of blessed memory described as the new mutation of the age-old virus: antisemitism in the guise of a political fight for human rights. It is vital for Catholics to be aware of the emergence of this new antisemitism, and to teach our children to distinguish the difference between legitimate and illegitimate political action and discourse. Antisemitism in any form is never legitimate.
Add to this reflection the dark chapters of Christianity, with its own history of prejudice and hostilities against Jews stretching back at least to the patristic era. It is difficult for us Christians to admit this history. But we must, if we are to approach the present moment with full clarity. In this light, October 7 has brought the Catholic Church to the brink of an historic challenge to its moral sensibilities. In a post- Holocaust, post–Nostra Aetate world, the attacks on Jewish communities on October 7, including the mass murder of Jews unprecedented since the Holocaust, required an equally unprecedented voice of mass protest from Catholics. ‘Never Again Is Now’ has become a catchcry since October 7. I concur
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