President Shimon Peres rolled out the red carpet in his official welcoming of Pope Benedict XVI in Jerusalem on Monday.
 
“While many political clouds still darken the horizon…” stated the president, “most people in the region year for peace” he stated in his remarks in the official welcoming ceremony. Peres added that today, Jews, Christians and Muslims alike must shift focus from “separation of church and state to separation of religion from violence”. The pope expressed his prayer for peace in the Mideast.
 
The peace buzz word dominated the papal visit on Monday, but little was done to offer any tangible solution to the harsh realities that face Israel today, the existential threats, with Iran close to nuclear independence and Syria working diligently to develop nonconventional weapons, chemical and biological agents. In addition, Damascus and Iran continue pumping funds and technology to feed Hamas and Hizbullah anti-Israel terror.
 
The two, the president and the pope, planted an olive tree together and Mr. Peres gave the pope two gifts, wheat stalks developed by Israeli scientists and called Benedict XVI in his honor in addition to a 300,000-word Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible inscribed on a tiny silicon particle, using nanotechnology.
 
A choir of girls wearing white dresses sang in the pope’s honor as the event was held in a truly festive atmosphere.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)