(Tablet) Yair Rosenberg - To judge by media reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a testy exchange with Pope Francis over whether or not Jesus spoke Hebrew. The Chicago Tribune soon dubbed the incident a "spat," and by the time it made its way to The Age in Australia, Netanyahu was said to have "publicly bickered" with the Pope. The Forward tweeted "#Jesusgate spat over Hebrew ends testy #PopeFrancis visit with Benjamin Netanyahu." As the video of their discussion shows, Pope Francis is laughing throughout the entire exchange, which to a normal observer would appear to be an amiable conversation, not a "spat." As New York Times Middle East reporter Liam Stack tweeted, "not sure this counts as sparring." Despite attempts by some media outlets to imply otherwise, the incident is not indicative of any hostility Francis harbors towards the Israeli prime minister.
2014-05-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive