(Haaretz).Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday asked Pope Benedict XVI to condemn the anti-Semitic declarations of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"I urge you to sound your moral voice against the Iranian threat," Netanyahu asked the pope as the two met in the Israeli city of Nazareth.
Netanyahu underscored before the pope the threat that he felt Iran poses to the Middle East and to world peace. Fending off the Iranian threat will advance peace, Netanyahu said, adding that Israel wants peace with the Palestinians but only the kind of peace that brings security. "We don't want to dominate another people, but we also don't want a terror state backed by Iran to rise alongside us and jeopardize Israel's safety," he said.
The pope replied that he believed extremism must be battled and that moderate elements in the region must be supported. The pontiff stressed the fact that he has spearheaded the battle against anti-Semitism around the world.
The pope asked Netanyahu to step up the negotiations between Israel and the Vatican surrounding the payment of taxes collected from Catholic Church institutions inside the state of Israel. The prime minister insisted that he was in favor of resolving the issue and that he would take steps to speed up the talks.
