ICAHD UK’s Director confronts Archbishop of Canterbury
JVL Introduction
We have previously posted criticism of the Church of England, particularly for inconsistency: advocating for peace in South Sudan for instance, but appearing indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinians and failing to give public support to Church leaders in Israel-Palestine who have been speaking out.
Last week Archbishop Welby had a chance to make amends, speaking as a key participant in the Embrace Middle East annual lecture.
His contribution as ICAHD (the Israeli Campaign Against House Demolitions) reports here, was not helpful. “It was clear,”, says the report, “that the Archbishop was out of his depth and comfort zone.”
On many important issues he clearly was inadequately briefed and his willingness to learn by engaging with critics was not in evidence…
This article was originally published by ICAHD UK on Fri 8 Sep 2023. Read the original here.
ICAHD UK’s Director confronts Archbishop of Canterbury
ICAHD UK’s director, Linda Ramsden, attended the Embrace Middle East annual lecture at St Martin’s in the Field on 6th September which attracted a crowd of 500 and was live-streamed. The theme was reconciliation. Daniel Munayer, CEO of Musalaha [a non-denominational, Christian charity bed in Jerusalem, ministering through reconciliation], was one of the speakers along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Rev Su McCellan from Embrace ME.
The Archbishop went first and spoke for much longer than he had been allocated. He insisted that the region was “complex and fraught” and “a tragedy” and that we “must avoid binaries…” insisting peace in the Middle East can only come from within the region with the stronger party (Israel) making the first move. Daniel spoke about how reconciliation works on the ground and emphasized that more and more scholars define what is happening there as settler colonialism and with Israel practicing apartheid. Daniel also graciously corrected the Archbishop on many points. He said that we can’t wait for the change in Israel’s moral consciousness to happen first. Examples in history show us that those oppressed speak up. There must be a call for equal human right and justice for all and that the Palestinians can take the lead on this. It was clear that the Archbishop was out of his depth and comfort zone.
During the Q & A, Linda asked the Archbishop whether in the light of the important work that the Church did during the apartheid years in South Africa, he would re-examine his position on Israel’s apartheid, mentioned by Daniel and in reports from Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem and others. In his reply he refused to do so, rejecting the evidence that Israel is practising apartheid and he referred to Israel’s constitution.
Within Daniel’s measured response he stated that Israel doesn’t have a constitution – it has laws thus yet another correction to statements from the Archbishop. Su was gentle and even diplomatic when she provided several examples of Israel’s apartheid policies on the ground.
During the reception which followed, Linda spoke to the Archbishop and asked if he would meet with Jeff Halper when he is in London this autumn because as an Israeli Jew, he has spent nearly 30 years specifically working in support of Palestinians. She was shocked and embarrassed by his discourteous response. The Archbishop drew near to her face, looked her directly her eyes and said, “No. I have no time in my diary.” He then turned away.
How unchristian of the Archbishop
It’s absolutely shocking that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby would not agree to see Jeff Halper . How could anyone, let alone a supposed man of God,be so rude and dismissive of the always measured , reasonable and friendly director of I.C.A.H.D. , Linda Ramsden ? Mind you, we all know how Dr Stephen Sizer was treated by the Church of England for speaking up for Palestinians … barred from ministry for 12 years . Who supported this ? Justin Welby . He is one of the establishment and is not going to be brave by standing up for human rights against an oppressive settler colonial regime . It’s very sad that we live in a topsy turvy world where the oppressor blames the oppressed and most of the world’s governments concur with the oppressor .
I did a blog on Welby earlier this year:
The Revd. Stephen Sizer – Crucified by the Church of England for supporting the Palestinians
Instead of Condemning the neo-Nazis Who Attack Christian Palestinians Justin Welby prefers to play the role of Pontius Pilate
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2023/02/the-revd-stephen-sizer-crucified-by.html
There is no point in making polite approaches to Welby. It will take pickets and direct action. Remember how Tatchell and co. disrupted the synod over the question of gay rights?
I would suggest as a start a picket and demonstration outside the next synod.
Welby is a typical wealthy Anglican living in a palace. As blend of the vicar of Bray and Keith Starmer
The moral cowardice of the Archbishop of Canterbury is repulsive. It is a betrayal of the Palestinians in general, but in particular of the substantial number of Anglican Christian Palestinians in Palestine and Israel.
It is not surprising but it is truely shameing what ever your religious belief. It is worth remembering that Christianity began with a pòor man who spoke out about love forgiveness contempt for falsehood and personal courage not too much in evidence in Cantebury.
LTrue the Holy Father has earned reproach for speaking up for Loach and Julian Assange and to mention peace and negotiation is tantamount to treason
.We might also recall the hapless Ukrainian priest who asked his congregation to seek reconcilistion and pray for peace for that he was forced to apologise so one must asume the Archbishop chose to play safe but many of us feel a deep sense of betrayal
No chance of any change then? Maybe he will be on the Damascus Road one day ….and see some light.
This post about ICAHD UK brings shame on the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was appointed, I presume, as someone who would not cause embarrassment or trouble to the British establishment. The British establishment has been deeply complicit in the setting up and operation of the State of Israel. And also in the evils of Empire, slavery and you name it.
I happen to be a member of the Church of England, and I worked in South Africa in 1980-84. That was a period after the Soweto riots and relatively quiet politically. At the time, sanctions on South Africa were getting heavier and I could see that the leaders in the Dutch Reformed Church, with which members of the government were aligned, had come to the conclusion that Apartheid, being incompatible with Christian principles, could not continue and they were searching for ways to end it.
The South Africans have muddled through since then, despite corruption in their ranks. There are now much wider opportunities for a wider range of people.
From what I can tell, the Apartheid suffered by the Palestinians is far more vicious than anything imposed in South Africa, where the mantra was “separate but equal”. They did not have the bomb attacks,house demolitions and so on that are commonplace in Israel, where a slow-motion genocide is taking place.
I see no early end t the current status quo in Israel, but people can follow the example of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who did great work in the service of peaceful change in his own country.
Wow, what a bastard, and he’s supposed to be a Christian. Thank goodness I turned Athiest after leaving my C of E school at 11. This sort of double speak was what I grew up with. That’s the problem with all religions – they don’t look at the bigger picture and don’t bother researching to find the reality.
So much for reconciliation! Interesting point about briefing – maybe a tour with ICHAD would be a good idea.
Well done for exposing Welby’s moral failure.
A scared sheep who follows instead of leading the flock ?
Or, a zionist wolf in sheep’s clothing ?
“No. I have no time in my diary.” He then turned away.
Who would have thought such a response would come from the Archbishop and former Oil executive?
I’m not shocked or even surprised at the Archbishop’s reactions, he’s always come across as weak, when it comes to injustices by the Government, of which the list is long. He was never going to say anything controversial about Israel. Side stepping awkward questions is what he is skilled in.
President Truman kept a sign on his desk in the White House which read: “The buck stops here”.
Perhaps my Lord the Archbishop of Canterbury should have a sign on his desk saying “Power tends to corrupt….”, with a footnote to remind him that Lord Acton first used the phrase in a letter to the Bishop of London. The cause then – appropriately enough – was ecclesiastical abuse of power
Archbishop Welby’s present silence over Israeli apartheid is corrupt because he leads a religious institution which is nominally in favour of treating all people as made in the image of god. His silence in the face of Israel’s inhuman treatment of the Palestinian people means that he is personally complicit; he is also betraying what his church stands for.
The archbishop can hardly claim that he must stay out of politics since he has a seat, by right, in the House of Lords, along with 25 other Church of England bishops. Nor, in the run-up to the 2019 general election, did he have any qualms about publicly condemning anti-semitism in the Labour Party then led by Jeremy Corbyn.
The explanation for the archbishop’s readiness to condemn the Labour Party on the one hand and his failure to condemn Israel for vastly greater wrongdoing on the other is probably to be found in Lord Acton’s dictum. After all, Archbishop Welby’s progress through life has been one of power and privilege: Eton, banking, big oil and head of the established church. Such a career is bound to blunt the moral senses.