I wonder why the ensure and apology was made in a letter and not OPENLY? To make the apology acceptable, the Cardinal should have done so PUBLICLY and made sure that it was translated into Arabic so that the Palis would understand. Short of that theMuslim spin doctors will continue to utilize this scurillous and blasphemous anti-semitic attack!

Another tactic used by modern-day Germans to distance themselves from the worst crime in history is to refer to those accursed "Nazis" as if they landed in Germany from another planet.

and KEEP JUDAISM OUT OF CHRISTIANITY.

dont say how their fathers/mothers enthusiastically cheered the Nazis and voted for them. Even today the older generation say "The Fuhrer did a lot of good" I have heard them MANY times .!! EVEN a lot of the July 20th plotters who tried to assasinate Hitler were previously Anti Semites. They only wanted him out of the way 7 weeks after D Day and when the Soviet Army captured half of Poland and were advancing on all fronts . They waited till all was lost until they did something .Now they are Martyrs.

is it not true that since 1948, at least, the Palestinian population has been growing exponentially? On the other hand, is it not true that, as a result of the Holocaust in Warsaw, etc the Jewish population was somewhat...uhsomewhat.....uh... REDUCED.? In future, the Israeli government take idiot/imbeciles like those German bishops, by the scruff of their necks and throw them out !! Of course, this will not happen as long as Oldmerde is PO. What an outrage !!

Just like other notable anti-Semites these German Clerics grew up in households that had may have had repressed but not forgotten Jew hatred. In a thousand years the Catholic church has never completely given up the mantra of the “Jew Killers of Christ”. It is revived each pagan “easter” celebration. How many Jews were killed because of impassioned hate speech of catholic clergymen? I submit that it will never die as long as these sinister frocked men are not punished like the criminals they are and have always been. We Jews sit on a precipice in our own land. Our own government is dealing with this criminal church over possession of parts of Israel this church wants total authority and control over. We allow the pagan alters of islam and catholicism inside the only country in the world where Jews should have complete refuge from these hated enemies. We know they have not changed, why try dialog? It is an exercise in futility, just as peace with Arabs should have proven to be. One clergy member in Germany speaks up but thirty members in Israel condemn Jews. I have never heard an Arab cleric condemn violence against Jews yet we still seek an impossible peace with them.

THE GERMANS brought Hitler to power and supported him. The GERMANS were antisemites way before Hitler: just read Fichte, Lizt, Wagner, etc. The GERMANS invaded Europe. And my family, BARUKH HASHEMM, KILLED MANY GERMANS in the mountains and cities of Italy during the Resistance! THE GERMANS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND WAYS TO LIBERATE THEMSELVES FROM THE COLLECTIVE GUILT IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE JEWS. THEIR BEST WAY OUT HAS BEEN THEIR LOVE FOR THE ARABS, AND THE KEFFIAH WORN BY LEFT, GREENS, NAZIS, AND ALL THE "PACIFIST" CAMP AND THE REST OF THE GERMAN DEMONSTRATORS FOR 30 YEARS, SHOWS THAT THEY HAVE REMAINED WHAT THEY ARE: ZERA AMALEQ!

The German Church SUPPORTED HITLER SINCE THE BEGINNING!! NO ONE EVER EXCOMMUNICATED THE CATHOLIC AUSTRIAN AND CHURCH GOER CALLED ADOLF HITLER! The Pope himself, while he was nunzio in Germany, was courting and even financing Hitler and never opened his mouth to stop Hitler's genocides. After the war it was the Catholic Church who organised and even gave passports to nazi criminals, from Germany, Austria, Craotia, Romania, Hungary, to flee Europe towards South America! Now, the beatify apostates of Judaism (nun Klein) antisemites (Kolbe), Queen Isabella, just as they did for centuries! The only Jew they like is the one who abandons Judaism: like Lastiger, whom they send to represent the Church at Auchwitz... NOT BY CHANCE!

the nazis are all stupid blinded and workless and this silly bishop isnt really an antisemit hes just an idiot who has no clue of the near east conflict and didnt check that he insults the holocaust with his shit hes just an idiot there are worse people here

I would hope that the pope, a veteran of the Wermacht during the NAZI era, would have something to say. These statements only further taint the Catholic church. I would hope the Franciscans would say something different, being that this order actively defied German NAZI orders to deport and murder Italian Jews. Something should come from the pope. People have to know that the Catholic church does not still harbor sympathy for NAZIs as they did pre and post WW2. Times like these we miss John Paul II. He would not tolerate this bull. God bless this German Cardinal for making it known that this behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

Cardinal Karl Lehmann said it was inappropriate to "connect contemporary problems or SITUATIONS OF INJUSTICE in any way with the National Socialists' genocide of the Jews." Where is the injustice in Israel defending herself? Reuters says: "Palestinians and human rights groups call Israeli travel restrictions collective punishment. " Sadly, more and more often, Palestinians behave like the fascists behaved. Many of the Nazis in Germany were Catholics in good standing; they took Holy Communion. Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Joseph Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, and Rudolf Hoess were not excommunicated. Nazi-like Jew-hatred permeates Palestinian Arab culture, the schools, their media, political and social life, etc., to the point that Palestinian children yearn to murder innocent Jews by the thousands. They yearn to be martyrs; suicide bombers that "tear the flesh of monkeys and pigs." When this racist mentality permeated German civilization, the German Catholic church and the German Protestant church, the Allies held the German people "collectively" responsible and collectively guilty. Allies fire-bombed German cities, killing hundreds of thousands of German civilians. Few today consider Allied defensive punitive measures against Germany (collectively) a "situation of injustice," rather a situation of self-defense.

I wrote one myself after reading about it on the little green football site (great site) where one of the posters provided email adressess to send mail. Lgf is read not only by Americans but also in Australia and Europe so I think quite a few messages from many Christians and jews alike must have had some impact. If you wish to add your voice in protest, the adress is pressestelle@bistum-eichstaett.de Please be respectful when you write so that your letter is taken seriously. Point out that the appology must be public in order to count.

Please write to them at pressestelle@bistum-eichstaett.de to protest their statements and attitudes. They need to hear German voices protesting their behavior -- after all they speak for you, in a way.

'Times like these we miss John Paul II. He would not tolerate this bull. ' you say. Yes he did, you've just forgot it. 1. Carmelite cross in Auschwitz; 2.Anti-Semitic utterances of the head of the catholic Church at the time. 3. Tolerance for years of anti-Semitic priest Jankowski . 4. Total silence when Assad accused Jews of murdering all prophets, including Jesus, during John Paul II MidEast trip. There was more, like embrace of Arafat, when jews were being blown up on busses and in restaurants. Shall I go on? Let's face it, Catholic Church doesn't have all that much to do with good will towards the Jews or with Christianity, for that matter.

The following is what this Pope (Benedict XVI) said when he visited Auschwitz in 2006. He essentially exonerated himself, the German people and his church from the crimes of this "ring of criminals." "I come here as a son of the German people ..." (not guilty on that account; rather) "a son of that people over which a ring of criminals rose to power by false promises of future greatness and the recovery of the nation's honour, prominence and prosperity, but also through terror and intimidation, WITH THE RESULT THAT OUR PEOPLE WAS USED AND ABUSED as an instrument of their thirst for destruction and power."

ur right we did all this shit and its the worst shit ever done by germans and we have still a lot of nazis and even more antisemites what i wanted to say is read lessing or the leaflets of sophie scholl or read the reichstag notes of 1934

yeah ill think about it they wont read it but anyway and they dont speak for me im an evangelical :-) and he is an idiot he goes to ramallah and is shocked ok its rammallah not paris but its not israels fault and to compare it to the holocaust especially as a german is just stupid

No action is going to be taken to discipline these bishops. Now on the other hand, if they questioned the authority of the Pope even in the smallest thing, they would be busted out of their bishopric in about five seconds.

...when people of the world will stop bashing the Jews and the nation of Israel. They will adopt a different attitude towards the Jewish entity. They will evolve to appreciate them and be grateful to them. The process has started already.

.. from Muslims treatment of their communities, How their numbers in Arab Countries are falling . How Bethlehem, previously predominantlyChristian is fast losing its identity. Yes, there are ChristianPals who support their Muslim neighbours but on the whole things are BAD for Christians . Im sure some Pal Christians will write in how great relations with Muslims are but the falling numbers speak for themselves !!

I think somehow their sympathy for the holocaust victims might have been transferred onto these mothers and children in Ramallah. The mind is funny that that. That's why, German Catholics especially, who are visiting Yad Vashem should make this their last stop. People visiting need enough time afterwards in order to deal with emotions.

You miss Pope John ? I don't miss any pope. John only talked, but didn't discipline any outspoken Jew-haters in the church, and wasn't about to.

Listen guys, i'm not Jewish but i've got to have my say here. I've been a regular visitor here for many months and by and large the opinion here is amusing, stimulating and generally good fun. But this business over these German bishops is WAY OVER THE TOP. I don't know how you treat your Palestinian minority in Israel, but i dare say their life is damn awful just like most minorities' lives are elsewhere in the world. But had it occured to you that when these Bishops witnessed what they saw as an injustice, they decided to use the most imflammatory language they could to draw attention to the Palestinians plight. You know you people really need to take yourselves down a peg or two and stop equating your emotional sensibilites with the actual economic and physical hardships endured everyday by Palestinians. And dont deny that you are encroaching on Palestinian land to house your settlers. I've watched the map of the West Bank over many years, and its definitely shrinking. Perhaps you are starting to behave like your Russian immigrants. Ever wonder how Russia got so big ? What was Peter Ustinov's classic line, "Russia grew huge because Russians used to lean on their neighbours fence during polite conversation, and then under their weight it would collapse. THEN they would offer to have it repaired at their expense, only this time 2 feet further out". Israel, watch out for your Russian population. They're not doing your international image any good. But lastly, and this is for all those German talkbackers here. Get a life for heavens sake. Are your lives so empty and void of self satisfaction that you must seek the approval of a group of people (Israelis) who: 1) Couldn't care less about what you think about anything. 2) Will always at the very least mistrust you, but probably will always hate you. 3) Will in all likelihhod never meet you because they and you are 1000's of miles apart 4) Blame you for something (the Holocaust) that you personally had no part in because you were either too young or not born yet. And consequently, because it was a crime that was committed by your forefathers and now cannot be undone, by definition you will always be held accountable, no matter what you do or how hard you try. So why bother seeking forgiveness. Its a totally pointless exercise. All i know is that i am intelligent enough not to judge a person by his his skin colour, religion, appearance and most importantly NATIONALITY. Nations are artificial entities that have no bearing on a persons identity. They exist simply for the purposes of international management and migration control. I can honestly say that as an English Catholic, i have Jewish friends, Muslim friends and even Protestant friends, and none of their religious beliefs has any bearing on my relationship with them. I simply don't care. People can believe and do whatever they like, so long as they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses. So my message to all you Germans who get into an emotional guilt complex over all things Jewish is 'Fuggedabaadit', and to all you Israelis who get all hot under the collar about all things German is 'Forget the Germans, but mind your Russians'. Eventually they could cost you your whole country

excuse me - i didn´t get the point of your article..... can you keep it brief? I don't have abundant free time like you my firend...

You say you do not judge people by race, religion, or nationality, and then warn Israel about Russian Jews. How does that work? It seems that your statements about Israel and the Pals are just as foolish. Learn your history of the area before showing your lack of knowledge by replying about subjects you really do not understand

You see, Peter, you would like everybody to have their cake and eat it too and life just doesn't work that way. You write: "All i know is that i am intelligent enough not to judge a person by his his skin colour, religion, appearance and most importantly NATIONALITY. Nations are artificial entities that have no bearing on a persons identity. They exist simply for the purposes of international management and migration control. " Well, these GERMAN clerics came to Israel, a JEWISH state, and after a couple of hours inside the West Bank where they were obviously given a certain viewpoint, they made a claim that related to the MURDEROUS history of the GERMAN people against the JEWISH people. This comparison of what Israel is doing for security reasons, and even for other reasons, simply bears no comparison to what the GERMANS did to the JEWS for racist and subsequently genocidal reasons. However, they used the analogy precisely because they are GERMAN and they were speaking about JEWS. Thus, they absolve themselves of guilt while attempting to show the Jews as being no better than the Germans. It's a nice try, but it won't wash. And you shouldn't let it wash either.

as faithful and lapsed christians have perpetrated against Jews in the last 2 millennia. The Church would better help the Palestinean Arabs to feed themselves, make a decent living and love their neighbours; not too much, just a little.

we israelis and jes have our own "existantial dilema"....the words those bishops used regarding the palestinian "ghetto". the israeli existanrial dilema is a constant barrage of kassams and suicide bombers trying to cross from their territories into ours....not even cross at times, but send katyoushas and file missiles on israeli towns straight from their territories. i guess the palestinian nurse at the hospital forgot to mention this israeli "existantial dilema"???? supposed those same bishops were the innocent targets, together with a group of israelis at a restaurant? i wonder how they would have described the palestinian existantial dilema then? the fact that you do not see such poverty and neglect in hospitals, schools, etc.... in the israeli side is because israelis are intent on progress and peace, not on murder and crookery. they use their money to modernize and create a better life, while the palestinians in their self imposed ghettos, use the usa and eu aid monies to buy weaponry, missiles, books full of hate messages and the pity of the world through their mass media of lies and revisionist history. those bishops responsibility is to ask the following question before making israel guilty of the palestinian suffering..... what have you, palestinians and your leaders, done in the last 59 years to self aqctualize, create a responsible society, create an economy, responsible education, child up bringing, creation of hospitals, farms, water purification systems, electricity of your own, history books published with truthful historical accounts, elimination of jew hate propaganda, media, tv programs and books freely distributed in your open markets to entice and prolong the jew hate feelings???? where is our aid money going to? who gets it? who steals and pockets it? what did you do with all the billions? what have you got to show for all the aid you got all these years????? what are you contributing to the world so that you can be respected and admired? what do you teach the young in your schools and universities? or do you use them to develope labs commited to bombs and ammunition? what is going on in your mosques? what messages are your imams and clericks delivering? are they peaceful or hateful? these are the questions these bishops should have asked the palestinians prior to accusing israel of ghetoatizing them. from what i know, terrorists and those who plan and support terrorism and terrorists in europe are incarcerated and stand trial and put in prison. the terrorists commiting crime against people in london, paris, madrid, etc... are not different than the terrorists committing crimes against the israelis. so, all you bishops, go home, lament and think about your condemnations. you are not antisemites or anti israel. you are simply uninformed as to the real existantial dilema in israel on a daily basis. next time, condemn the bombings of sderot and the negev on a daily basis, then come back and talk about the palestinian ghettos.

What else can we expect ? I am sure there are many Catholics who do not feel this way at all, especially since Jews and Catholics have made many inroads and bridges together in the recent decades. However, this situation DOES NOT HELP ANY !!