Pope Francis has been afflicted with "a bad case of 'Palestinianism'" and his "woke, left-wing leanings" are a "disservice" to Catholicism, writes Alan Dershowitz.
"By accepting Palestinianism and supporting the Hamas narrative, he is siding with the enemies of Christianity, the enemies of Judaism, and the enemies of decency," Dershowitz wrote Wednesday in an opinion piece published in the Daily Caller.
Pope Francis in November suggested that the global community should study whether Israel's military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, a hypocritical move considering the Vatican's "complicity in genocide during World War II," Dershowitz said.
"The Vatican knows what genocide is," he writes.
"It perfected this crime against humanity during the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the priest-inspired pogroms that led to the Holocaust. Genocide requires an intent to destroy an entire religious, racial, or ethnic group, without exceptions. It does not include acts of self-defense, such as those engaged in by the Israel Defense Forces following the massacres of October 7, 2023."
Israel has said it is solely hunting down Hamas and other terrorist armed groups.
Additionally, the claim that Israel has killed 45,000 Palestinians "has now been debunked," writes Dershowitz.
"This absurdly exaggerated figure includes thousands of Palestinians who died of cancer and other diseases. It includes Palestinians who were killed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets and by Hamas's own murderous actions against fellow Palestinians who oppose its tyranny," he writes.
"It counts as children 16- and 17-year-old terrorists who have been recruited by Hamas to murder Jews. It includes as "civilians" people who directly participated in the murders and rapes on October 7."