- Cardinal Timothy Dolan is in Bethlehem as part of a week-long visit to Israel
- He had to seek shelter during Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel on Saturday.
- Iran launched an unprecedented attack that was largely deflected by the Iron Shield.
American Cardinal Timothy Dolan had to seek refuge when Iran launched its drone attack on Israel during his visit to Bethlehem.
The Archbishop of New York will spend a week in Israel, in part to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association. He started in Jerusalem on Friday and on Saturday night was in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, when Iran’s drone armada arrived.
‘This Sunday in Bethlehem everything seems calm and bright. And it is for us. We feel safe and secure,” he told his followers in a video Sunday morning.
—That wasn’t true last night, when the air raid sirens sounded and we had to go down and seek safety at the Notre Dame Center.
“But now things are looking good and we are grateful for that.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan described how he had to run for cover when Iran launched its drone attack on Israel during his visit to Bethlehem.
Iran launched 170 kamikaze drones and at least 120 rockets and 30 ballistic missiles at Israel, almost all of which the Iron Shield intercepted.
The Islamic dictatorship struck in retaliation for Israel’s killing of the top Iranian soldier in Syria in an attack on the embassy in Damascus.
Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi was killed along with other Revolutionary Guard commanders on April 1.
Cardinal Dolan linked Israel’s long history of fending off attacks from its neighbors to his visit to the nursery, where nuns care for abandoned babies.
“They told me that every time a new baby arrives at our door… who has no one to care for him, we feel like it’s Christmas again,” she said.
Cardinal Dolan linked Israel’s long history of defending Israel against attacks by its neighbors with his visit to the nursery, where nuns care for abandoned babies.
‘When another of God’s children is born, we have the honor of loving him so tenderly and caring for him.
“Those are messages of inspiration that are received here in the Holy Land and that I think have given people the resilience and hope that they are famous for.”
Cardinal Dolan began his trip in Jerusalem with a Shabbat dinner with Jewish leaders and will remain in Israel and Palestine until Thursday.
He will meet with other Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders and visit Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.
Smoke rises over the area of an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, near the border with Israel, on April 14.
Drones or missiles competed yesterday for targets in undisclosed locations in northern Israel
The Iranian attack marks the first time Tehran has launched a direct military attack against Israel despite decades of enmity dating back to the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
On Sunday morning, Israel said it had “thwarted” Iran’s unprecedented attack on its country and revealed that 120 ballistic missiles were used along with 200 drones.
Syria has said Iran exercised its “right to self-defense” in the attack on Israel.
And according to the New York Times, last night US President Joe Biden dissuaded Israel from giving the green light to an immediate retaliatory strike against Iran.
US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said the US has communicated to Iran “what we would do” if US troops or facilities were attacked amid the growing conflict in the Middle East.
President Joe Biden’s National Security Council spokesman reiterated that the United States does not plan to engage in counterattacks against Iran on behalf of its ally Israel, but will continue to help defend the Jewish nation.
Amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, some Republican lawmakers are dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s response so far to the escalating conflict and want a direct response to last night’s attacks by Iran and its representatives.
‘The president has made it clear: we are not seeking a war with Iran. “We are not seeking a broader war in the region,” Kirby told NBC anchor Kristen Welker on Sunday morning.