Shas Party ministers on Monday did not attend the official Ben-Gurion International Airport welcome for Pope Benedict XVI. Joining Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Shas officials decided the pope’s controversial past and his recent position on a number of issues make him an unsuitable candidate for such honors. Also conspicuously absent were Chief Rabbis Moshe Amar Shlita and Yona Metzger Shlita.
 
Shas ministers stated they did not receive instructions from above not to attend, but they did not feel it was the proper thing to do. Minister Meshulum Nahari told the Ladaat.net agency that he preferred to use the time during which the welcoming event took place to fulfill the mitzvah of nichum aveilim, visiting mourners during shiva. He added he found it most inappropriate to hold such events for the pope, including the Monday evening gala welcoming in the official Presidential Residence on the yahrzeit of the Rashbi ZY”A.
 
Shas Party spokesman Ro’i Lachmanovitz explained the ministers saw the ceremony as unfitting for a man with such a checkered past as well as what he represents today.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)