Another Insult to Christianity… meet the Methodist Friends of Israel
12. Aug, 2010
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By: Stuart Littlewood
The Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, led condemnation of the Methodist Church for its approval of a report on Israel which he warned would have widespread repercussions for interfaith relations: Photo JC.COM
A few weeks ago the Methodist Church’s annual conference did a very courageous and praiseworthy thing. It voted to boycott products from Israeli settlements in Occupied Palestine, regarded as illegal under international law, and to encourage Methodists across Britain to do the same.
“The decision is a response to a call from a group of Palestinian Christians, a growing number of Jewish organisations, both inside Israel and worldwide, and the World Council of Churches,” said the press release.
Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relationships, remarked: “This decision has not been taken lightly, but after months of research, careful consideration and finally, today’s debate at the Conference. The goal of the boycott is to put an end to the existing injustice. It reflects the challenge that settlements present to a lasting peace in the region.”
Predictably the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which calls itself “the chief voice of British Jewry”, blew a gasket. In a joint statement with the Jewish Leadership Council they said the Methodists should “hang their heads in shame”. The Chief Rabbi led the verbal assault warning that the implications would “reverberate across the hitherto harmonious relationship between the faith communities in the UK”.
What seemed to have inflamed the Chief Rabbi this time was the report ‘Justice for Palestine and Israel’ submitted to the Methodist Conference. Its recommendations include the following…
“In listening to Church Leaders and our fellow-Christians in Israel Palestine as well as leaders of Palestinian civil society we hear an increasing consensus calling for the imposition of boycott, divestment and sanctions as a major strategy of non-violent resistance to the Occupation. The Conference notes the call of the WCC [World Council of Churches] in 2009 for an ‘international boycott of settlement produce and services’ and calls on the Methodist people to support and engage with this boycott of Israeli goods emanating from illegal settlements (some Methodists would advocate a total boycott of Israeli goods until the Occupation ends).”
Elsewhere it says:
“The Methodist Church has consistently expressed its concern over the illegal Occupation of Palestinian lands by the State of Israel. That Occupation continues not only compounds the state’s illegal and immoral action but also makes any accommodation with the Palestinian people and future peace in the region much less possible.”
The Chief Rabbi nevertheless denounced the report as “unbalanced, factually and historically flawed” without saying in what way it was inaccurate. Actually it is a very well put together document, which hits the mark and is hard to fault.
The Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council said the authors of the Methodists’ report had “abused the goodwill of the Jewish community, which tried to engage on this issue, only to find our efforts were treated as an unwelcome distraction”. Here is the full text:
Statement on the Flawed Document Endorsed by the Annual Methodist Conference
This is a very sad day, both for Jewish-Methodist relations and for everyone who wants to see positive engagement with the complex issues of Israeli-Palestinian relations. The Methodist Conference has swallowed hook, line and sinker a report full of basic historical inaccuracies, deliberate misrepresentations and distortions of Jewish theology and Israeli policy. The deeply flawed report is symptomatic of a biased process: The working group which wrote the report had already formed its conclusions at the outset. External readers were brought in to give the process a veneer of impartiality, but their criticisms were rejected. The report’s authors have abused the trust of ordinary members of the Methodist Church, who assumed that they were reading and voting on an impartial and comprehensive paper, and they have abused the goodwill of the Jewish community, which tried to engage with this issue, only to find that our efforts were treated as an unwelcome distraction.
This outcome is extremely serious and damaging, as we and others have explained repeatedly over recent weeks. Israel is at the root of the identity of Jews and of Judaism, and as an expression of Jewish spiritual, national and emotional aspirations, Zionism cannot simply be ruled as illegitimate in the way that the Methodist Conference has purported to do. This smacks of breathtaking insensitivity, as crass as it is misinformed. That this position should now form the basis of Methodist Church policy should cause the Conference to hang its head in shame, just as surely as it will cause the enemies of peace and reconciliation to cheer from the sidelines.
Empty barrels, they say, make the most noise.
If arrogance is the only response to serious concerns about Israel’s unending barbarity towards Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land, it’s time that implications did indeed “reverberate” across the faith communities, not only in the UK but around the world.
Zionist cuckoos in the Methodist nest
Lo and behold, before the dust could settle another new product from the Zionist drawing-board popped up, calling itself Methodist Friends of Israel. “We are Christians who are members or adherents of the Methodist Church, who love Israel and want to bless her and who fully accept God’s everlasting covenant with His chosen people,” they announced. “While recognising that the nation of Israel is, like all nations of the world, an unrighteous nation that does not always get things right, we firmly stand with her at all times and continue to support her in an increasingly hostile world. We will not turn our backs as so many did in the 1930s.
“We see that anti Semitism is on the rise throughout the world with synagogues and graveyards vandalised and Jews being attacked both verbally and physically and that there appears to be a direct relationship between the increased attacks on Jews and the blanket condemnation of Israel by the media, many charitable organizations and world bodies such as the UN. We are concerned that the whole, true picture of what life is like in Israel is given to the world rather than the biased half truths, distortions and lies that are presently reported.
“We are concerned that many churches are going down the politically correct line of condemning Israel’s policies and are thus contributing to the strong anti Semitic views of the world.”
Note that they are concerned only with “what life is like in Israel”, not the hell Israel has created in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for Christians and Muslims.
And what else do they believe in?
- They recognize that Israel is the land given by God to the Jews and Jerusalem is its only capital.
- They believe that God’s word for, promises to, and covenants with Israel – people and land, through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) are everlasting and that the church has not replaced Israel
- They believe that Scripture prophesies the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel and what they are seeing today is a fulfilment of prophecy. It is a privilege that they are witnesses to this fulfilment
- They believe that Israel is central in the enactment of God’s purposes as we move in these last days
- They believe in finding out from many sources the whole picture of what is happening in Israel so that they can pass on the facts to those whose view is based solely on biased media coverage, and so correct mistaken beliefs (achingly funny, this)
- They believe in blessing Israel however possible including buying goods and produce from Israel and resisting all calls for boycotts
- They believe in supporting Israel’s defence of its people and their right to live without the threat of missile attacks, homicide bombings etc.
- They believe in standing against libelous attacks against Israel
- They believe in fully supporting Israel’s right to the land given them by God
According to the Jewish Chronicle, the group was set up by preacher Pam Smith from South Wales in reaction to her Church’s call to boycott Israel. Naturally Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chairman of the Zionist Federation, was overjoyed and said: “I hope this will be the start of a grass-roots movement within the Methodists to reverse the motion passed at the Methodist Conference, which was theologically invalid, maligned Zionism and demonised Israel.”
Needless to say, the Methodist Friends of Israel website editorial reads like pages from some Israeli propaganda rag.
Have they not heard of The Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism, a statement by the Latin Patriarch and Local Heads of Churches in Jerusalem issued in 2006? It is neatly summed up in its first sentence:
“We categorically reject Christian Zionist doctrines as a false teaching that corrupts the biblical message of love, justice and reconciliation.”
Those guys are on the ground, in the front line. They know the score. It’s time Preacher Pam visited Gaza and the West Bank (not by Israeli tour bus or as guests of Israel’s ‘establishment’) and got a grip on reality. She and others have allowed themselves to be hoodwinked into supporting a sinister political movement that is intent on stealing the Holy Land from under our noses.
I wonder how long these cuckoos will be allowed to foul the Methodist Church’s nest.
Stuart Littlewood
11 August 2010
Stuart Littlewood is author of the book Radio Free Palestine, which tells the plight of the Palestinians under occupation. For further information please visit www.radiofreepalestine.co.uk
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See Also
Palestine’s “Turbulent Priest” Delivers a Blistering Easter Message - by Stuart Littlewood
Exclusive Intifada Interview with Archbishop Theodosios (Atallah) Hanna - by Elias Harb
What sort of Christians become Zionists? - by Stuart Littlewood
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Dear Mr Littlewood
In your latest blast at Israel today (re the Methodist Friends of Israel) you again trot out the the oft-repeated assertion that the core obstacle to peace is Israel’s settlements and Israel’s territorial ambitions. Indeeed, during 2009 when Israel came under huge international pressure to freeze settlement construction in existing West Bank settlements, the Palestinian Authority did refuse to re-enter negotiations with Israel until a settlement freeze had been implemented.
However, when (on 25 November 2009) Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu responded by announcing a 10-month “settlement freeze,” stating that his main goals were to give the peace process with the Palestinians a chance to restart and to demonstrate to the wider world that the onus should now be on the Palestinians to resume negotiations, the Palestinian leadership immediately rejected the settlement freeze, claiming it was “not enough” because it did not include a freeze on Israeli construction in the eastern parts of Jerusalem. They refused to restart talks.
The reality is that the Palestinians need to reject “victimhood” and seize opportunities. The extremism of Arab and Palestinian leaders have perpetuated the condition of the Palestinian people. They always portray themselves as victims of Israel ; and in so doing they have missed many opportunities to improve their situation, and achieve statehood.
As a friend and supporter of the Palestinians, I believe you should highlight their responsibilities as well as their rights, and remind them that there has never been a national movement which has attracted so much international diplomatic and political attention, or economist and financial support.
Moreover, the rights afforded to Palestinians by Israel in the West Bank are denied to Palestinians in Lebanon and other Arab countries. Yet you only complain about Israel. Why?
I therefore call publicly on you to respond in detail and objectively to the following comments by David Horovitz in the Jerusalem Post of 27 November 2009.
I look forward to hearing from you
Yours sincerely
Johnny Cohen
David Horovitz
“The dispute between Palestinians and Israelis is not about settlements. It hinges on whether the Arabs are willing to recognise the legitimacy of Israel as the state of the Jewish people within any boundaries. Some find it convenient to imagine that the clash between the Zionist and Arab causes has transitioned to a non-zero sum game. That is hardly the dominant view in Israel.
In 1920, the international community gave Britain the responsibility of establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. But a year later London turned over eastern Palestine to Emir Abdullah and Transjordan was born. The Arab response? “It’s not enough”.
In 1937 the Peel Commission recommended dividing Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. The Zionists consented. The Arabs…. said no.
In 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. Again, the Jews agreed. The Arab response was “it’s not enough” and they tried to throttle the newborn Jewish state. Israel survived while the Arabs took the West Bank and Gaza. Did they then form a Palestinian state? Of course not, because these territories alone were “not enough”.
In 1967, the Arabs failed to push an Israel living within the 1949 Armistice lines into the sea, and the West Bank came into Israeli possession. Magnanimous in victory, Israel offered peace. The Arab response: “no peace, no recognition, no negotiation”. (Arab League’s Khartoum declaration of November 1967]
In 1977 Egypt’s Anwar Sadat courageously embarked on the path of peace. Israel withdrew from all territory claimed by Egypt, and Menachem Begin, moreover, offered the Palestinians something they had never enjoyed – autonomy. Israeli forces would have been redeployed as a prelude to final status negotiations. [NB The autonomy was to last for a maximum five year transitional period, with unconditional negotiations on the final status of the West Bank and Gaza to begin at that time]. The Arab response? “It’s not enough”.
As a result of the 1993 Oslo Accords, the PLO leadership was invited to return from Tunis and set up a Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Gaza. But a double-dealing Yasser Arafat never genuinely embraced this historic opportunity for reconciliation. Hamas intensified its terror campaign which claimed dozens of Israeli lives (well before the Baruch Goldstein Hebron massacre in February 1994, and figures indicate that over 400 Israeli civilians have in fact been killed in Hamas suicide bombings since 1993]
Ehud Barak twice – at Camp David (in July 2000) and at Taba (February 2001) – offered Arafat a Palestinian state accompanied by extraordinary territorial and political concessions. The Arab response? “It’s not enough”.
When Israel unilaterally pulled its settlers and soldiers out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, the Arabs again said: “It’s not enough”.
In 2008, Ehud Olmert offered Mahmoud Abbas 93% of the West Bank, plus additional territory from Israel proper. Abbas did not even deign to say “It’s not enough” – he just walked away.
Then in June this year, Netanyahu, following in the footsteps of his predecessors, unequivocally accepted a demilitarized Palestinian state. The Arab response? “It’s not enough”.
Generation after generation, decade after decade, Israeli concession after concession, the Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to say “It’s not enough”….
The discouraging message that comes across to Israelis who want an agreement is that no matter what we do it will always “fall short” ….. and never be “enough” for the Arabs.
[Reply]
Thank you for your remarks, Mr Cohen.
You say: “…You again trot out the the oft-repeated assertion that the core obstacle to peace is Israel’s settlements and Israel’s territorial ambitions.” I make no such assertion, nor do I comment on settlements or the Palestinians’ negotiating stance.
But since you raise the question, it seems Mr Netanyahu, by offering a 10-month freeze on illegal settlement construction, still hasn’t quite grasped the essential fact that building Israeli settlements on Palestinian land is ILLEGAL. There has to be a permanent end to it and a dismantling of what has already been built (or the Jews living in them can opt for Palestinian citizenship, won’t they love that?)
And why should the onus be on the Palestinians to resume negotiations when Israel is still stealing land at gun-point, evicting families and bulldozing homes? Indeed, why should the Palestinians negotiate anything at all until Israel withdraws behind its internationally recognized pre-1967 borders, conforms to UN resolutions, complies with international law and respects human rights? In other words, behaves like all other civilized nations? That is all Israel has to do qualify for peace.
I have no intention of responding to comments made by Mr Horovitz last year. However, I see he trots out the well-worn myth about Barak’s ‘generous offer’ at Camp David, which is an excellent example of how things are never what they seem with the Israelis. The 78% of Palestinian land conceded by the Palestinians earlier wasn’t enough for greedy Barak. He ‘generously’ required the inclusion of 69 Israeli settlements within the 22% remnant that the Palestinians would be allowed to keep. It was plain to see on the map that these settlement blocs created impossible borders and already severely disrupted Palestinian life in the West Bank. Barak also wanted the Palestinian territories placed under “Temporary Israeli Control”, meaning Israeli military and administrative control indefinitely. The ‘generous offer’ also gave Israel control over all the border crossings of the new Palestinian State. What nation in the world would accept that? The pathetic reality of Barak’s offer, exposed in the map, was hidden by propaganda spin.
Later, at Taba, Barak produced a revised map but withdrew it after his election defeat. Don’t take my word for it – the facts are documented and explained by organisations such as Gush Shalom.
[Reply]
Praise be to BUGS BUNNY the new Messiah.
The Church of Bugs Bunny does not regognise any other religion and will kill all those that refuse to believe in the divinity of Bugs Bunny who is our creator and saviour. In the beggining there was Bugs and Bugs was made flesh and dwelt among us giving us love in bucket loads unless we pissed him off, which is quite easy to do, at which point he weould throw us into the firey furnace of Hell to burn for eternity oe boil in our own excrement. We got that one from the Talmud. Those Jews know how to come up with some pretty good eternal punishments. The followers of Bugs are the new “Chosen ones” and all those of you who do not bow down before us will will have their eyeballs sucked out by Mick Jagger. We are the true faith and all you others are shit.
[Reply]