Jewish lobbying with Church of England ‘backfires’Bishop says excess pressure from lobbyists prompted church to vote in support of anti-Israel group
By MIRIAM SHAVIV, Times of Israel
The British Jewish community’s efforts to stop the Church of England from officially bolstering its ties with a group accused of being anti-Israel may have backfired, says the Bishop of Manchester.
“A few people said that all the lobbying from the Jewish side led us to vote the other way,” said the Rt. Revd. Nigel McCulloch, who is chair of the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ), the UK’s oldest Jewish-Christian interfaith group. “There was over-lobbying by some members of the Jewish community. The CCJ actually warned against this, as we know how the Synod works and it’s not a good way to get things done.”
The General Synod, which is the church’s highest legislative body, voted Monday night to support “the vital work” of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The scheme brings international church members to the West Bank to “experience life under occupation” for three to four months, and expects them to campaign on their return for “a just and peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through an end to the occupation, respect for international law and implementation of UN resolutions.”
The group members spend limited time — up to one week — inside the Green Line.
The British Board of Deputies, Anglo Jewry’s main representative organization, has accused the group of creating “a cohort of very partisan but very motivated anti-Israel advocates who have almost no grasp of the suffering of normal Israelis.” It encouraged members of the Jewish community to express their concern before the vote in a letter campaign to senior members of the Church and to the Church Times, the most influential Church of England newspaper, while other Jewish groups, as well as Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks and the Anglican Friends of Israel, all called for the motion to be rejected.
The Bishop of Manchester was instrumental in trying to broker a compromise, proposing that the references to EAPPI be removed from the motion, which also expressed support for “Israelis and Palestinians in all organizations working for justice and peace in the area” and for “Palestinian Christians and organisations that work to ensure their continuing presence in the Holy Land.”
However, the amendment was rejected by the Synod members.
In the final vote, 201 bishops, clergy and laity voted in favor of the motion. Fifty-four voted against, and 93 abstained.
“Naturally, I am disappointed with the result,” said Bishop McCulloch. However, he added, the result was not unexpected – and it could have been worse.
“When you look at the voting figures, it would be normal for a debate on the Palestinian-Christian issue in Israel to be supported. The size of abstentions and those who voted against is really very significant. So although the motion carried, it had a majority that was much less than otherwise could have been expected. It was not an overwhelming endorsement by the Church of England.”
He emphasized that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who is the leader of the Church of England, stated during the debate that he did not want the Church to be associated with delegitimization of Israel and supported the amendment removing the reference to EAPPI.
The debate also, however, included at least one reference to a “powerful lobby,” which some Jewish observers interpreted as having anti-Semitic overtones. Bishop McCulloch rejects the suggestion.
“I don’t think I interpreted anything said as anti-Semitic,” he said. “I am pretty certain people would not have intended that to be the case and it should not fairly be emphasized.”
Given that EAPPI, by Bishop McCulloch’s own admission, “also lobbied very strongly,” why then was there a backlash specifically against the Jewish lobbyists?
“Many people do not understand the situation fully and tend to vote with people who seem to be helping the Palestinian-Christian case. My point was that lots of organizations do that and we don’t usually name particular organizations. Why should we support this one by name when it is so controversial?”
The EAPPI motion, which was brought privately by Dr. John Dinnen of Hereford, cannot be reconsidered for five years, according to Synod rules.
The Church will now encourage parishioners to volunteer for the program and ask churches and synods to make use of the experience of returning participants.
But according to Bishop McCulloch, EAPPI’s link to the church may have a silver lining.
“The Church now has the responsibility of holding EAPPI to account, seeing what can be done to make sure that there is a fairer presentation of the Israeli side,” he said.
“The Council of Christians and Jews will now make sure we put pressure on. Because of the link through the Church of England, we will demand to see some of EAPPI’s representatives explain from the Church of England why we are unhappy that [delegates] spend so much time in Palestinian areas and so little time on the Israeli side, meeting mainstream Israeli citizens, and about what appears to be biased feedback people give when they return.”
In a difficult situation, he said, “this is the brighter side.”
@ Sonnyboy8080:
Meryl has been banned.
@ Meryl:
Dont lose sight – half the Presbyterians reject the boycott – dont include them among the Jew-haters and shield them from your insults…
You will all love this reportage from Max Keiser from http://www.rt.com on the financial crimes of the fish and chip gang:
MUST WATCH
http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-313-keiser-max/comments/
Thank you Gordon Brown and John Howard for selling your nations’ gold at the lowest price possible!!
Flawlessly written. I could only add that this is unfortunately nothing new. History is confusing and the real history of the world is slowly trickling out by brave people.
If the West is to survive and thrive, I repeat, if, our “leaders” will have to be killed. I am not optimistic.
http://www.silvergoldbull.com
Laura Said:
@ Laura:
Laura Said:
Perfect!
Why doesn’t exessive pressure from muslim groups ever backfire on them? More likely the reason they voted as they did was because the muslim lobby is far more powerful, intimidating and frightening than the Jewish lobby could ever be. They voted this way not for the reason they claim, that the Jews were too pushy, but because they have nothing to fear from Jews. Or simply plain old antisemitism.
A couple of years back the Archbishop of Canterbury said that England would have to accept sharia law. So a church that won’t even defend itself and their own country cannot be expected to stand with Israel. Is it any wonder that church attendance in England is so low. The Church of England is led by morally bankrupt clergy who stand for nothing.
Christians are being persecuted and murdered in muslim countries. So why are churches in the west coming out with resolutions to boycott Israel instead of these muslim nations? It is appalling that church leaders cannot distinguish between good and evil.
At every level of leadership in the western world, from government to media, to academia to clergy, we are being led by those who belong in mental institutions, so twisted is their worldview, so morally degenerate are their values.
@ TTW:
TTW Said:
TTW, this is a great point. In addition, leftist Jews with no other connection to the community are using their Jewish identity and Jewish community organizations to promote their anti-Zionist agenda.
What happens in England is becoming more and more irrelevant. I am not sure what keeps that miserable and disgusting place from sinking into the abyss. They obviously have made so many secret deals of financing that it still has a heartbeat but it is brain dead.
Sad that the world gives it so much respect.
If the wealthy arabs were to pull out their wealth tomorrow, the entire economy would come to a dead halt. Arab muslim money is greatly assisting in the financing of just about everything and surely the leftists.
Nothing good has come from that grey miserable place since 1945 ( except the Beatles, Monty Python, Tom Jones and Brian Jones).
Jews and Israel are too West and Euro centric. A very significant chunk of the wealth is false, fraud and make believe.
4infidels Said:
Leftist radicals have infiltrated churches and other organizations in order defame the Jews and Israel. The lies and nonsense put forth by Arabs have misled many countries and peoples around the globe. This clearly shows that Israel should make a great effort to debunk the fabricated lies with truth. No matter what sooner or later the truth shall win.
The Jewish organizations in England along with their friends should put pressure on the Church of England in order to force volunteers who may come to Judea and Samaria to spend equal time in Israel as well.
So it’s bothersome to members of the Church of England that Jews would lobby against a political action taken by the Church, but it is fine for the Church of England to actively interfere with the affairs of the Jewish State by supporting its enemies, including going after Israel’s security policies that best enable it to protect the lives of its people.
By the way, the over-lobbying charge is rarely leveled against any other group. It is an additional excuse given for those who voting against Israel was not enough; they had to blame the Jews in England for doing what they would have done anyway. But at least they’re not anti-semitic. I guess the West Bank and Gaza Arabs don’t need to lobby, since, as the favorite Third World victims, the lies and nonsense they put forth is accepted without question.