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Pope Urges Lebanon to Elect a New President Immediately

Pope Francis looks on as he holds the weekly general audience at the Paul VI Audience Hall, at the Vatican, November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Francis looks on as he holds the weekly general audience at the Paul VI Audience Hall, at the Vatican, November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
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Pope Urges Lebanon to Elect a New President Immediately

Pope Francis looks on as he holds the weekly general audience at the Paul VI Audience Hall, at the Vatican, November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Francis looks on as he holds the weekly general audience at the Paul VI Audience Hall, at the Vatican, November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

Pope Francis called on Lebanese politicians on Sunday to urgently elect a new president, to get the country's governing institutions functioning again.

"I address an urgent invitation to all Lebanese politicians to elect the president of the republic immediately," the pontiff said at Saint Peter's Square at the end of Sunday Angelus prayer, AFP reported.

Lebanon's institutions need to "start functioning normally again to undertake the necessary reforms and sustain the country's role as an example of peaceful cohabitation between different religions", Francis said.

Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri has called a presidential election for January 9 in a bid to end a two-year leadership vacuum.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022.

Neither of the two main blocs in parliament -- the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents -- have the majority required to elect a head of state and they have been unable to agree on a consensus candidate.

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Members of UK Jewish Group Say Can't 'Turn Blind Eye' to Gaza War

Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP
Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP
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Members of UK Jewish Group Say Can't 'Turn Blind Eye' to Gaza War

Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP
Children gather near a destroyed makeshift shelter following an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia - AFP

Members of the largest organization representing British Jews have said they can no longer "turn a blind eye" to the war in Gaza, adding "Israel's soul is being ripped out".

In a major break with the Board of Deputies of British Jews' policy of supporting the Israeli leadership, 36 of its members criticized the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Gaza in an open letter published in the Financial Times.

"The inclination to avert our eyes is strong, as what is happening is unbearable, but our Jewish values compel us to stand up and to speak out," said the letter, signed by around one in eight members of the Board of Deputies, AFP reported.

"We cannot turn a blind eye or remain silent" about the loss of life since a two-month truce collapsed on March 18, as negotiations over the return of Israeli hostages broke down, the letter added.

Of the 251 hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

"Israel's soul is being ripped out and we, members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, fear for the future of the Israel we love and have such close ties to," added the letter.

The signatories accused the "most extremist of Israeli governments" of "openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank."

"We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life," they added.

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies told the Guardian that other members would "no doubt put more emphasis on the fundamental responsibility of Hamas for this ghastly situation."

At least 1,691 Palestinians have been killed since the resumption of the Israeli offensive, bringing the death toll in Gaza since the start of the war to 51,065, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry.