The Almagor umbrella group of terror-victim associations thanked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Monday morning for the quickly-arranged visit by Pope Francis to the terror-victim memorial on Mount Herzl, in between the pontiff’s visit to the grave of Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum.

A statement by Almagor said, “This was a quick but necessary step after the shameful meeting of the pope with the families of murderous martyrs [dead terrorists—ed.] and prisoners in the Palestinian Authority.” The statement added, “The wrong was not corrected but there was a message of an independent and assertive stance by the state of Israel opposite Palestinian propaganda and the anti-Semitic currents sweeping Europe. They have achieved a record of attacks on and vulnerability of Jews.”