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Israel revealed its true colors after ugly Palm Sunday screw-up

Holy Week in the Holy Land began with online hysteria.

After Catholic Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and three prelates were wrongly denied access to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre at a police barrier, internet outrage spiraled into an international incident.

But what could have been a diplomatic catastrophe showed the opposite: Israel apologized, kept its word — and demonstrated what makes it America’s model ally.

Israeli police set events in motion by erecting a wooden barrier outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the faith’s most revered site, as a safety measure.

On Palm Sunday, one of Christianity’s holiest days, it inadvertently became a symbol of ill intent.

Official restrictions amid the war with Iran, whose regime has launched more than 400 missiles at the Jewish state in the last month, limit the size of all religious gatherings in Jerusalem’s Old City to fewer than 50 people.

Catholic leaders barred from Jerusalem Holy Sepulchre church

Israel bars Catholic officials from praying at holy site, outraging US Ambassador Mike Huckabee

Pope Leo issues strong rebuke on ‘atrocious’ Iran war in Palm Sunday message: ‘Hands are full of blood’

It’s a prudent, life-saving precaution: Just two weeks ago, debris from an intercepted Iranian missile landed in the basilica’s close vicinity.

The tomb of Christ and the ancient structure atop it were not built to be bomb shelters.

Importantly, the cardinal and his fellow priests........

© New York Post