Israeli President Moshe Katzav called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an anti-Semite today for saying in a speech welcoming Pope John Paul to Syria that Jews had betrayed Jesus and the Prophet Mohammad.
Outraged by Assad's fiery comments yesterday, Mr Katzav told reporters that the young Syrian leader had not inherited from his father, the late president Hafez al-Assad, traits of moderation and restraint.
"He (Hafez Assad) was not a partner with whom we could reach peace but he did not express himself in such a careless, racist, anti-Semitic, illogical manner like the current president expresses himself," Mr Katzav said.
Mr Katzav, whose mainly ceremonial position is supposed to voice an Israeli consensus, suggested that Mr Assad - an opthalmologist by training - return to school to learn history.
At a welcoming ceremony for the Pope as he arrived on his first trip to Damascus, Mr Assad told the Roman Catholic leader that the suffering of Arabs under Israeli occupation today was similar to the pain endured by Jesus.
"We see our brothers in Palestine being killed and tortured. We see that justice is being violated, lands are being occupied in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine," Mr Assad said, clearly referring to, but not naming, Israel.
"They try to kill the principle of religions (with) the same mentality (that) they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Mohammad," Mr Assad said.
Mr Assad made his remarks a month after enraging Israelis by saying Israeli society was more racist than the Nazis .
Eyal Zisser, an Israeli expert on Syria at Tel Aviv University, said the latest comments were a combination of Mr Assad's ideology and inexperience, showing that the 35-year-old, Western-educated leader was fighting to stay in power.
Mr Zisser said Mr Assad might be choosing to be verbally aggressive after not responding last month to an Israeli air strike on a Syrian radar stationin Lebanon, following the killing of an Israeli soldier in a Lebanese guerrilla attack.
"It shows he is under a lot of pressure," Mr Zisser said.In the short term this buys him popularity in Syria. Mr Zisser told Reutersthat Mr Assad's statements had hurt his international image."There is a problem with this man. We have not heard such statements from any Arab leader in years."
There was no immediate Palestinian comment on the speech.
Also, US Jewish leader Rabbi Marvin Hier today condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's comments in welcoming Pope John Paul II to Damascus as the words of an "anti-Semite."
"Rather than use the occasion of a first ever visit of a Pope to his country by offering his people a vision of peace and tolerance ... Bashar al-Assad continues the path of his father by offering up an almost daily menu of hate and bigotry," Mr Hier said.
AFP