VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI faced the first major conflict of his 3-month-old papacy when Israel summoned the Vatican envoy yesterday to express outrage that the pope “deliberately failed” to condemn terrorist attacks against Israelis.

The pontiff also said in separate comments yesterday that he didn’t see any anti-Christian motive in recent attacks blamed on Muslim extremists and urged dialogue with the best elements of Islam.

The German-born Benedict, who has consistently reached out to Jews since assuming the papacy, was criticized by Israel for remarks Sunday from his Alpine vacation retreat in northwestern Italy.

He prayed for God to stop the “murderous hand” of terrorists and referred to the recent “abhorrent terrorist attacks” in Egypt, Britain, Turkey, and Iraq, but did not mention attacks in Israel.

“The pope deliberately failed to condemn the terrible terror attack that occurred in Israel last week,” a Foreign Ministry statement issued in Jerusalem said.

“We expected that the new pope, who on taking office emphasized the importance he places on relations between the Church and the Jewish people, would behave differently,” the Israeli statement said.

Later, Israel’s foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, said he hoped the failure to mention the attack in Netanya “was a mistake and not a deliberate omission.”

A Vatican spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, issued a one-line statement saying the papal envoy “has already replied to the Israeli government.”

Later, Mr. Navarro-Valls released a second statement in which he noted that Benedict’s words expressly referred to terror attacks in “recent days.”

“It’s surprising that one would have wanted to take the opportunity to distort the intentions of the Holy Father,” Mr. Navarro-Valls said.