Church Betrays Israel!  

Critics recall Jesus accusing the religious leaders of being ‘a brood of vipers’

Christians across the UK have been horrified by news that the Church of England General Synod has betrayed Israel by voting for a seriously antisemitic document called Kairos Palestine.

It purports to express solidarity with Palestinian Christians while accusing Israel of genocide, colonisation, and ethnic cleansing. It even appears to justify the October 7, 2023, massacre of Jews on the basis of “decades of injustice, oppression and displacement” in Gaza.

235 members of the synod voted in favour, while 47 voted against. Of the 30 Bishops who voted, none voted against.  The document - “A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide” - is also known as Kairos II.

Hypocrisy and bias

During the debate, synod member Ian Paul spoke strongly against the motion, due to the very one-sided nature of it. As he said, “This motion raises some awkward and challenging questions for us.

“How can we claim to speak for ‘a just and lasting peace’, when we are listening to the pain of one side only in this complex, contested conflict, which we must — but we refuse to hear from the other—the bereaved and the maimed of 7th October and the second intifada? Why was the other voice not invited? If it is good enough for our archbishop [to hear the other voice], why not us?

“How do we avoid the charge of hypocrisy, when we meet Palestinian Christian leaders as our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we should, yet stay silent while some of those same communities celebrate terrorist violence, and their children post that celebration online?

“How can we claim to stand against antisemitism when para 3.3 [states]: ‘We consider the State of Israel, established in 1948, to be a continuation of that same colonial enterprise built on racism and the ideology of ethnic or religious superiority” and the IHRA statement, which the bishops supported, specifically says, ‘the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour’ is antisemitic.

“How do we avoid the charge of anti-Israel bias, when we single out for censure the one democracy in the region — the only one that protects the rights of women and of gay people — yet have never once debated the oppression of women in the Arab world, the suffering of the Kurds, the Yazidi, the Uyghurs, the Yemenis, or the Christians of Nigeria?

“How can we call this ethnic cleansing, when Israel’s first leaders urged Palestinians to stay and build a shared state, when 2.1 million Palestinians hold full democratic rights in Israel today—and when Jews were ethnically cleansed from every inch of the Palestinian Territories, and 900,000 more driven from neighbouring Arab states? As a Synod we were silent then. Did we protest then? Did we propose a debate, or a diocesan motion?

How do we live with ourselves in a country where Jewish schoolchildren are jeered at daily ... and we say nothing?

“And how do we live with ourselves in a country where Jewish schoolchildren are jeered at daily — ‘you have no place here, leave the country’ — and we say nothing?

“When you head to the York train station on Tuesday, you will pass the castle tower, where the last Jews of York died in 1190, prior to the expulsion of all Jews from England in 1290.

“What will we say when the last Jew leaves Britain this time? Will we listen to them then?”

Islamic agenda disguised as Christian

In a Revelation TV studio discussion of the debacle, presenter Simon Barrett said it represented “a pure Islamic agenda wrapped up in Christian theology” – biblically heretical and a complete denial of Scripture.

Rev Tim Guttman said the document was full of lies and antisemitism, adding: “Somebody needs to stand up and say, ‘You brood of vipers’,” referring to the way Jesus denounced the religious leaders of His day.

Mr Guttman said it would spell the end of the institution in the same way that the Methodists have suffered haemorrhage since calling for a boycott of Israel some years ago.

“Christians are calling for the destruction of the only democracy in the Middle East.”

“When you mess with Israel you’re poking God in the eye,” he said. (Israel is several times referred to as ‘the apple of God’s eye’ in the Bible).

He went on: “Christians are calling for the destruction of the only democracy in the Middle East.” And this was especially mystifying after their recent apology for a millennium of antisemitism, a reference to a 2022 Anglican event in Oxford marking 800 years since English clerics passed a motion that subsequently led to the banishment of Jews from this country.

Also taking part in the programme was Pastor Regan King, who said: “The Anglican Church has lost its mooring. This is a gospel issue.”

Deep concern

Criticism comes from various other sources, too. Giles Fraser of Unherd called it “a shameful vote”, noting that “this document doesn’t say that the Israeli government's response to the massacre of October 7 was so excessive that the word genocide comes into view – they go way further than this and say that Israel was a genocidal project from the very beginning.”

Unsurprisingly, there is deep concern in the Jewish community too. The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews issued a statement calling the passage of the motion “highly problematic.” Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said, “It is truly shocking that a document which purports to speak in the name of truth contains so much falsehood.”

The Church of England have failed to take notice of the warnings about this document laid out prior to the synod vote, as highlighted last week in Prophecy Today. They have sadly joined with the anti-Semitic mob demonising the world’s only Jewish state, led by the extreme Islamist movements of groups such as Hamas. 

Public declaration against Kairos II launched

A coalition of Christian pastors, theologians and lay leaders has launched a public declaration rejecting Kairos II.  The Declaration Against Kairos II calls on Christians worldwide to reject the theological distortions that are damaging Jewish-Christian relations and invites Christians to add their names in support. It accuses the Palestinian manifesto of  “inaccurate, one-sided, and dangerous rhetoric ”. 

It is our conviction that Kairos II is not in the interests of Palestinian Christians and only serves to hinder the cause of peace.

“Upon reading and consideration, we simply cannot receive Kairos II or endorse any hearing of it in a Christian context, and we explicitly reject it and denounce the same. God commands 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour' (Exodus 20.16). It is our conviction that Kairos II is not in the interests of Palestinian Christians and only serves to hinder the cause of peace, failing to acknowledge or recognise the root causes of pain in Gaza and the region of Judea and Samaria, commonly referred to as the West Bank.

“Its language is acerbic and even seems to rationalise and justify the heinous atrocities of Palestinian terror factions on October 7 2023 which have had devastating consequences. The document falsely and without substantiation accuses Israel of genocide in relation to its war on Hamas and terror factions in Gaza to rescue hostages and destroy Hamas' capabilities.”