Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch offers to be exchanged for Gaza hostages
Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch offers to be exchanged for Gaza hostages
Pope Francis' representative in the Holy Land said on Monday he was willing to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza.
I know we're all cynics here, but good for him. Even if this is entirely a publicity stunt, the guy is still taking a huge risk that someone might offer to take him up on it. That's a lot of nerve, and that's a lot of faith, either in God or in the way Hamas values hostages.
Either way, to repeat the notion elsewhere in the thread: any of us offering? Maybe it's a low risk--but it ain't zero. It's easy to dismiss these kinds of gestures from the same armchairs from which we solve geopolitics and warfare, but a public figure going on record for selflessness is something to be celebrated, even if the only noble trait is willingness to roll the dice on human nature in the hope of sharing an altruistic sentiment.
"Hurt me instead of her" is something we wish more people of faith would say everywhere.
135“Hurt me instead of her”
That's kind of the entire message of Jesus: He volunteered to be hurt instead of us.
Now, the whole notion of God hurting us or Jesus is kinda fucked and I'm a devout Last Thursdayist, but the sentiment is the same.
1Yes good for him. And good for the world if we get some music festival kid back and lose a priest. Win-win.
1Most of the hostages that have been released have been saying pretty good things publicly, so I guess now is as good a time as any lol
-6So go be one. How brainwashed do you have to be to believe hostages are being treated well by Hamas.
10
If genuine, this man shows a deep understanding of Christianity that eclipses all American evangelicals combined. He'd be a seriously good person, worth being respected by everyone regardless of religion.
124He also understands that a Christian is of absolutely no value in negotiating with Israel for Palestinian prisoners.
It's brilliant: make a magnanimous gesture that seems incredible but really has zero chance is being accepted.
36Very well said.
14
Speed-running sainthood.
67In doing so, he would be following after Saint Maximilian Kolbe:
a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz
54The Catholic Church venerates him as the patron saint of amateur radio operators, drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, and prisoners.
That’s uh, ..huh…something.
22I had forgotten about him, thanks!
6
What is Hamas going to do with a catholic priest? They want to exchange Israeli hostages for all the Palestinian men, women and children that Israel is holding hostage in Israeli prisons.
23Israel is holding palestinian children in prison? What?
8The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
At the end of June 2023, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was holding 147 Palestinian minors in detention or in prison on what it defined “security” grounds. At that time, the IPS was also holding 26 Palestinian minors for being in Israel illegally.
28Yes they are. The charges in most cases? Stone throwing. I'll add a few links for you to get started.
https://www.dci-palestine.org/children_in_israeli_detention
https://www.btselem.org/statistics/minors_in_custody
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/10/palestinian-children-abused-in-israeli-detention-ngo
22Usually they just shoot them.
10
This is the best summary I could come up with:
VATICAN CITY, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Pope Francis' representative in the Holy Land said on Monday he was willing to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, made his comment in response to a question during a video conference with journalists in Italy.
He stressed, however, that he and his office had not yet had any direct contact with Hamas, the militant Islamist group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,300 people.
Diplomatic efforts have been intensifying to get aid into Gaza as Israel prepares a ground invasion to destroy Hamas.
Pizzaballa said that about 1,000 Christians were sheltering in Church buildings in northern Gaza after their homes were destroyed in Israeli strikes.
Israel has urged exhausted Gazans to evacuate to the south, which hundreds of thousands have already done in the enclave that is home to more than 2 million people.
The original article contains 336 words, the summary contains 156 words. Saved 54%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
9SAY HIS NAME
🄿🄸🅉🅉🄰🄱🄰🄻🄻🄰
11
How do they ensure the guy doesn't just get killed in addition to existing hostages or scammed in some way along those lines?
1They don't, they have their faith. Some may say this is noble, some may say it's foolish. This guy believes in his convictions enough to potentially offer his health and life for another he's never met that doesn't even worship the same ideas as him. That's exceedingly rare these days, and will likely be moreso in the future.
35They don’t. It would just be a very bad look for Hamas. They’d just have no reason to kill him, or even to do the exchange.
It sounds like I’m being facetious but I am not. They’re not holding the hostages for ransom. They’re holding them for a prisoner exchange, I presume. However, I think the time for that kind of deal making is over for now. I think the Israeli government is going to destroy Hamas.
The only negotiation o could see happening - and I haven’t even seen anyone suggest this - would be the Palestinian Authority or another group to broker a surrender of Hamas leadership. I don’t think that’s going to happen either.
I anticipate Israel makes a ground incursion while continuing airstrikes, 10k or more Palestinians killed, and Mossad and Shin Bet go gloves off in assassinating Hamas leadership and allies. I think they’re going to get a lot of leniency and possibly cooperation from the international community, including some Arab states.
This was a 9/11 for Israel, and I think they’re going to be permitted a disproportionate response.
10
Oh yes. Hamas will greatly value a Catholic priest over multiple hostages.
I suppose it can't be pure grandstanding, since this offer is public and could theoretically if illogically be accepted, but the fact that he hasn't even talked to hamas and has acknowledged that he can't talk to Hamas and is still telling the public about his "offer" reeks of bluster
-3Atheism subs have been real quiet since this one dropped.
-39No, they haven’t.
21I was going to reply, stopped to look at this guy's comment history. I'm not seeing a lot of worth in it, it's mostly one-liners about this or that, no real engagement. Some seem mildly divisive simply for division's sake.
12Thank you for your service lmao
-7
You can't possibly think Hamas will actually take a Catholic priest as a hostage trade in their war against Israel.
5It's such a ludicrous, ostentatious and baseless offer since he hasn't even made contact with Hamas and acknowledges he won't be able to that most people aren't going to bother commenting about it.
I have the luxuries of callous taste and ample time.
2I guess that in that case they suck because they revolve around religion instead of atheism.
1