Diplomatic tensions between Israel and Vatican worry Jewish leaders

Rome's chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni is worried by an escalating diplomatic spat between the Vatican and Israel over the Pope's pronouncements on terrorism. He urged both sides to tone down the rhetoric to avoid any lasting damage to relations. Di Segni said the dispute was "only damaging for both parties'' and he hoped it would be ended quickly, particularly before Pope Benedict's visit to a synagogue in Cologne, Germany, next month. "As a religious leader, I am really worried about the escalating level of this debate and that we stop as soon as possible." Both the Vatican and Israel are now trying to put the dispute behind them, refusing to comment publicly after a week of tit-for-tat pronouncements which had culminated on Thursday with a harshly worded Vatican statement telling Israel not to try to give the Pope lessons on what to say in his statements. This followed Israel's summoning of the Vatican envoy to complain that Pope Benedict had "deliberately failed'' to include a suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Netanya when he listed countries recently hit by terrorist attacks.