UK Antisemitism: Oh, look, Sizer's talking!

I wonder whether the CEO of theegregiously one-sided so-called Peacemaker Trust will be sporting this cool new look when he addresses the predictable band of anti-Israel fiends in London this coming Al Quds Day.

To quote from today's report by Lee Harpin in the Jewish Chronicle:

 '... The Reverend ...  will join notorious anti-Zionist Mick Napier, of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, as a speaker at Sunday’s annual demonstration.

Mr Sizer’s presence at the Al Quds Day event will cause widespread anger among Jewish communal organisations and follows last week’s announcement by the Metropolitan Police that they are powerless to stop the flying of the flag of Iranian-led terror organisation Hezbollah on the march.

In December 2015, the Church of England condemned Dr Sizer for sharing material which was “clearly antisemitic”.

Before he became Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn had defended him saying Mr Sizer was being victimised because he “dared to speak out against Zionism.”

Last year, Mr Napier was found guilty of aggressive behaviour at a protest outside an Israeli-owned cosmetics store in Glasgow during the 2014 Gaza war.

Last week, the JC revealed the Met Police, in answer to a letter from MP Louise Ellman, the vice-chair of the Labour Friends of Israel, said that they had to allow the controversial flag to be raised once again at Sunday’s parade because parliament had “consciously chosen” to proscribe only the military wing of Hezbollah – but the group’s flag is “shared across all elements of that organisation.”

Metropolitan Police Commander Jane Conners said in her letter of reply that both she and Commissioner Cressida Dick “share concerns” that the raising of the Hezbollah flag on London’s streets “may be construed as belonging to a terrorist organisation.”

At last year’s Al Quds Day march, the JC revealed  how Nazim Hussein Ali, an Islamic Human Rights Commission speaker,  linked the Grenfell Tower tragedy to “Zionists” and calling for Israel’s annihilation at this year’s Al Quds Day march.

Following complaints about Mr Ali’s conduct – and the open display of Hezbollah flags – the Metropolitan Police confirmed it was investigating allegations of antisemitic comments made during the protest by Mr Ali.

But in December the Crown Prosecution Service had he would not face prosecution.'

I'm not so sure that

'Mr Sizer’s presence at the Al Quds Day event will cause widespread anger among Jewish communal organisations'

 The Jewish Chronicle seems somewhat ill-informed about Sizer (it turned down my screenshot of that notorious 9/11 post telling ms it was not interested, only to have its free London rival, the Jewish News, snap the proferred screenshot up), it seems ignorant of the vicar's proper designation, Dr, and it appears unaware that since he now has no pulpit, he is likely to make him less of a perceived thorn in Anglo-Jewry's side by the latter's communal leaders than if he was under the jurisdiction of a bishop.

Will he reprise this casual outfit, the one he wore when denouncing Israel at the Al Quds Day rally in London six years ago (that's Mr Ali in the background, incidentally)?

 

Or will he go for the full cassock, as favoured by his antipodean chum, Anglican priest Father Dave Smith, on an Al Quds Day Down Under more recently?

 Meanwhile, quick off the mark, the vicar has posted this, put up today by the Amos Trust and other enemies of Israel:

Go here and we find more information about this event:

London Protest Tuesday 5th June

Free Palestine – Stop the Killing – Stop Arming Israel

5.30pm. Assemble Opposite Number 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London – March to Old Palace Yard.

Organised by: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Muslim Association of Britain.

Supported by: Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Europal Forum, Amos Trust, UNISON, Lib Dem Friends of Palestine, The Green Party.

Join us on this day of solidarity actions for the Great Return March in Palestine, with events around the country.

Please bring Keys with you to symbolise the Nakba and the Right of Return. With respect and in line with the decision of the organisers of the Great Return March in Palestine, to demonstrate full unity, we would like to ask everybody to bring Palestinian flags only.

[Emphasis added.  In other words, leave the Hezbollah flags at home!]

https://www.facebook.com/events/103692723847506/

More info: www.palestinecampaign.org/great-march-return

What a nerve this cleric, who posted this excrescence

and regularly posts such items as this 

should have the chutzpah to criticise people like Jonathan Arkush, the outgoing president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, for voicing concerns about antisemitism.  (Mr Arkush said he was not suggesting the Archbishop “is not a strong and sincere friend of the Jewish people. “My statement in the Telegraph interview was very specific, and referred only to the EnoughIsEnough protest against the antisemitism in the Labour Party.")

Does the vicar approve of these two sentiments, the first below the identical post on his Peacemaker Trust page, and the second by the commenter on her own page?  Decidedly dodgy comments, eh? 

To judge by what he allows commenters on his own page to get away with (I've given many examples over the years), it would seem that "the Church of England takes antisemitism very seriously" does not represent him, or the followers in question would surely long since have been defriended.)

While Jews seem to be fair game, "Islamophobia" is by contrast taken very seriously by our old friend.

He would seem to know his constituency, after all.

See above article here  

See above article here

See above article here

Strange bedfellows, Muslims and Christians, but of course politics breeds strange bedfellows. The role of Sizer's so-called Peacemaker Trust in pushing Chrislam and Christian Palestinianism's agenda and weakening western support for Israel should not be underestimated. 

By the same token, Christian friends of Israel should be cherished and not be taken for granted.

Don't They Know It's Da'awa?

The Twelve Days of Yuletide.  And when not posting articles and videos disparaging Israel and (not in the least funny, this) showing how to tease a dozing cat by swaddling it, parcel-like, in Christmas wrapping paper (St Francis of Assisi would not be amused), our old friend the CEO of Peacemaker Mediators is joining in a spot of Chrislam good cheer.

Example below:

The initiative by the notorious East London Mosque smacks of a good old public relations opportunity for converting the infidel, if not to the one true faith then at least to the anti-Israel cause.

Never mind that over the decades Jewish volunteers have quietly joined with Christian volunteers to serve Christmas meals to the lonely and needy on  Christmas Day in many a town and city (yep, I actually saw it reported on the telly once, decades ago), it's this Muslim da'awa thing that counts.

And how the malign and the merely naive have been lapping it up.

Note, for instance, how one of Sizer's clerical faithful retells the story of the Good Samaritan to her flock.  

Note, too, how a self-styled "liberal" church in Greater London recently celebrated the birthdays of some chap it named as Jesus and one whom it resectfully labelled "the Prophet Mohammed".

To quote the influential Anglican blogger Archbishop Cranmer:

'Mawlid (or Milad) is the Islamic festival commemorating the birthday of Mohammed. The only thing it has in common with Christmas is that it isn’t actually the day the celebrated baby was born. Yet All Saints Church in Kingtson upon Thames thinks there’s an interfaith syncretised opportunity to be found in holding a joint birthday celebration for both Mohammed and Jesus – so they put the flags out for both, rejoicing in both, eulogising both, solemnising both, glorifying both, honouring both.

[N]ote how this event is “Marking the birthday of Prophet Mohammed”, but not looking forward to the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mohammed gets his prophethood, while Jesus gets neither his prophethood nor his priesthood; neither his kingship nor his messiahship. It’s the exalted Prophet Mohammed along with plain old Jesus, because to have added any of his claims to divinity would, of course, have alienated many Muslims (if they hadn’t already been alienated by the haram celebration), which wouldn’t have been very interfaith or sensitively missional, would it?

We have been here before: when Westminster Abbey hosted a service in which Mohammed was named in the succession of prophets, they effectively proclaimed to the world that Mohammed is greater than Jesus:

In Islamic theology, Mohammed was ‘The Prophet’ who came to fulfil and complete the partial revelations of all preceding prophets. Muslims believe that his coming was prophesied by Jesus: ‘But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father..‘ (Jn 15:26). The ‘Comforter’ or ‘Advocate’ (NIV) whom Christians believe to be the Holy Spirit is, for Muslims, Mohammed. So when he is declared in Westminster Abbey to be ‘The Chosen One’, it is not simply a benign multifaith expression of ecumenical respect in a commemorative service of reconciliation: it is a dogmatic affirmation of a perfected prophethood to which Jesus is subordinate, and His divinity thereby denied.

And then, of course, there was the act of divine worship  in St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow, in which it was declared publicly from the Qur’an that God can have no sons, and so the Gospel writers were engaged in a blasphemous deceit. Every time a church accords Mohammed the epithet ‘Prophet’, they are rejecting the crucifixion, denying the resurrection of Christ, and refuting that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, for Mohammed denied all of these foundational tenets of the Christian faith. The Jesus he espoused is the plain old one – no more than a prophet, and certainly an inferior one to him....'

And as the Gatestone Institute recently reminded us,

'This year's Christmas season has been marked by Islam-related controversies in nearly every European country. Most of the conflicts have been generated by Europe's multicultural political and religious elites, who are bending over backwards to secularize Christmas, ostensibly to ensure that Muslims will not be offended by the Christian festival.

Many traditional Christmas markets have been renamed — Amsterdam Winter Parade, Brussels Winter Pleasures, Kreuzberger Wintermarkt, London Winterville, Munich Winter Festival — to project a multicultural veneer of secular tolerance.

More troubling are the growing efforts to Islamize Christmas. The re-theologizing of Christmas is based on the false premise that the Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus (Isa) of the Koran. This religious fusion, sometimes referred to as "Chrislam," is gaining ground in a West that has become biblically illiterate....'

It is indeed that ignorance of the Bible on the part of European populations that has led to the  diminution in support for Israel.  As I have pointed out many times, the dilution of religious teaching in schools, the wilful ignorance of our shared Judeo-Christian cultural heritage in societies that have become "multicultural" and "secular" means that fewer people identify with the People of Israel against latter day Hamans and Pharoahs than was once thecase.   I have pointed this out to Jewish groups; for the most part I get blank looks, and shrugs.  It is as if Jews expect Christians to be hostile to them.  But as students of philosemitism are aware, this has not not been inevitably so.  

Luckily, however, despite such Christians as these, and Muslims like this one:

 There are Muslims prepared to assert the essential Jewishness of Jerusalem.

People like Professor Khaleel Mohammed, Assistant Professor at the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University, who is on record as saying:

'The Qur'an in Chapter 5: 20-21 states quite clearly: Moses said to his people: O my people!  Remember the bounty of  God upon you  when  He bestowed  prophets upon you , and  made  you  kings and gave you that which  had not been given to  anyone before you amongst  the nations. O my people!  Enter the Holy Land which God has written for you, and do not turn tail, otherwise you will be losers."

The  Quran goes on to say why the Israelites were not allowed to enter the land for forty years...but the thrust of my analysis is where Moses says that the Holy Land is that which God has "written" for the Israelites. In both Jewish and Islamic understandings of the term "written", there is the meaning of finality, decisiveness and immutability. And so we have the Written Torah (unchangeable) and the Oral Torah (which represents change to suit times). And in the Qur'an we have "Written upon you is the fast"--to show that this is something that is decreed, and which none can change.  So the simple fact is then, from a faith-based point of view: If God has "written" Israel for the people of Moses, who can change this?

The Qur'an refers to the exiles, but leaves it open for return...saying to the Jews that if they keep their promise to God, then God will keep the divine promise to them. WE may argue that the present state of Israel was not created in the most peaceful means, and that many were displaced--for me, this is not the issue. The issue is that when the Muslims entered that land in the seventh century, they were well aware of its rightful owners, and when they failed to act according to divine mandate (at least as perceived by followers of all Abrahamic faiths), they aided and abetted in a crime. And the present situation shows the fruits of that action--wherein innocent Palestinians and Israelis are being killed on a daily basis.

I also draw your attention to the fact that the medieval exegetes of Qur'an--without any exception known to me--recognized Israel as belonging to the Jews, their birthright given to them. Indeed, two of Islam's most famous exegetes explained "written" from Quran 5:21 thus:

Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) said: “That which God has written for you” i.e. That which God has promised to you by the words of your father Israel that it is the inheritance of those among you who believe” . Muhammad al-Shawkani (d. 1250/1834) interprets Kataba to mean “that which God has allotted and predestined for you in His primordial knowledge, deeming it as a place of residence for you” (1992, 2:41).

The idea that Israel does not belong to the Jews is a modern one, probably based on the Mideast rejection of European colonialism etc, but certainly not having anything to do with the Qur'an.  The unfortunate fact is that most Muslims do NOT read the Qur’an and interpret it on the basis of its own words; rather they let imams and preachers do that for them.

How did the Jews lose their right to live in the Holy Land? All reliable reports show that it was by the looting and burning that followed from 70-135 C.E.  When the  Muslims  entered  the  place in  638, liberating it from the Byzantines,  they  knew full  well to whom  it rightfully belonged.  But we find that  Muslim chroniclers state that  the Muslim  caliph  accepting  the  surrender of  the  Byzantine Christian representative, Sophronius, on certain  terms, one of them being that the Jews would not be permitted to enter the city.  I personally have a hard time accepting this story, and  aspects of  its historicity because as  modern scholarship  has shown,  Muslim reports about that time were  recorded long after the fact and  are not  as reliable as once thought.  And we know too that when the first Crusaders took possession of the place in 1096-1099, they slaughtered Jews and Muslims....

When the Muslims conquered Jerusalem, it should have been left open for the rightful owners to return. It is possible that Jewish beliefs of the time only allowed such return under a Messiah--but that should not have influenced Muslim action. And in contrast to the report of Sophronius above, there are also reports showing that Umar in fact opened the city to the Jews. If this be the case, then the later Muslim occupation and building a mosque on the site of the Temple was something that was not sanctioned by The Qur’an. How honest is contemporary Islam with this? Given the situation in the Middle East, politicking etc stands in the way of honesty....

I admit that the Qur'an has verses that are polemic, but my view is that the Qur'an in fact respects the Jews (which explains Moses being so often mentioned)...but that it is the oral traditions of Islam (the hadith) that demonizes the Jews. For many Muslims, this is a hard pill to swallow because for almost 12 centuries, they have been taught that acceptance of oral traditions are a creedal element of Islam....

What is the interpretation of the final two verses of the first chapter of the Quran?  "Guide us to the straight path--the path of those upon whom you have bestowed your bounty, not those who have incurred your wrath, nor those who are astray.

This verse has nothing about Jews or Christians...yet, almost every person learns that those who have incurred divine wrath are the Jews, and those who are astray are Christians. What is more problematic is that the average person learns this chapter and its interpretation between the ages of 5-8. And we know that things learned at this stage of life become ingrained, almost to the point of being in one's DNA, if I may put it that way....

The reformation will come from Muslims based in the West, and the voices of women will be loud and pivotal in that reformation. Let us look at some names that are as yet unknown to many, but names that have done so much for changing Islamic thought...names of people who may disagree vehemently with each other, but names of people who, for all their difference have done much to purge Islam of the male chauvinism that has afflicted it for centuries ...: Note that they are, with one exception, all now in the West, and that they have all had a western education.

....The Qur'an states at the very beginning of the second chapter "this is a book wherein there is no doubt, a guide for the God-conscious." Its contents are therefore to be seen by every Muslim as being divinely ordained, and to be followed. The verses on Israel as in 5:20-21 are not there just to be read; they are there to be followed. In Islam also, there is the elemental maxim "Calamity must be removed" (al darar yuzal). Muslms must face up to reality--in the years since Israel has been established, the focus of the region has been to seek to have it removed. And they have been unsuccessful, and there seems to be no hope for success. The pragmatic, proactive thing to do would be to come to grips with reality: Israel is there to stay, and it can exist  in a state of peaceful coexistence, or in a stage of bellicosity. The Qur'an tells Muslims that God will not change their position until they change it themselves--and this is a classic example for putting that edict into effect. Only when MUSLIMS themselves accept Israel will they be following their Qur'an. Israel will negotiate from a position of guaranteed security, and while there may be tension from time to time, at least peace will be the norm.'

See also here and here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnZ21Udwv5A

A Chrislam Carol

Statement by several score of European legal eagles, including to my certain knowledge a chap who wore his Jewish identity lightly, eschewed Jewish communal life, but suddenly threw himself vigorously into the work of a body formed of fellow as-a-Jews whose sole purpose is denigrating Israel.

Not that he is signing "as a Jew" on this occasion, for the signatories represent a cross-section of anti-Israel legal opinion in today's Eurabia.

"Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a global, peaceful movement led by Palestinian civil society that seeks to put pressure on Israel to honour its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law as demanded by numerous UN resolutions, in particular to end the occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories, stop systemic discrimination against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel itself, and permit the return of Palestinian refugees.

Modeled on the Anti-Apartheid Movement that mobilized civil society against apartheid in South Africa, the BDS movement has become a powerful and effective global movement in the advocacy of measures aimed at pressurizing Israel to comply with international law, and at persuading other states and business enterprises to withhold all support for Israel’s violations of international law.

The mobilization of civil society in the interest of human rights, such as the campaign against apartheid in South Africa and the Civil Rights movement in the United States, has not been obstructed by foreign governments. The effectiveness of BDS, however, has prompted not only Israel but also some other states to adopt measures to suppress this movement.

France, the United Kingdom, Canada and certain state legislatures in the United States, have adopted laws and taken executive action to suppress, outlaw and in some instances, criminalize the advocacy of BDS. Such measures aim to punish individuals, companies and private and public institutions that adopt ethically and legally responsible business, investment and procurement decisions.

Other States, notably Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland, have taken the position that, while they do not endorse a boycott of Israel, the advocacy  of BDS is  a lawful exercise of freedom of expression, a deeply cherished freedom enshrined in national law and international human rights conventions. Reputable human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Human Rights Watch, have likewise taken the position that individuals, associations, public and private institutions, local governments and businesses are entitled to advocate and implement BDS in the exercise of the fundamental right of freedom of expression.

States and organizations that view BDS as a lawful exercise of freedom of expression are correct. Whether one approves of the aims or methods of BDS is not the issue. The issue is whether in order to protect Israel an exception is to be made to the freedom of expression that occupies a central and pivotal place among fundamental human rights. States that outlaw BDS are undermining this basic human right and threatening the credibility of human rights by exempting a particular state from the advocacy of peaceful measures designed to achieve its compliance with international law."

More here (note the photo, in which a couple of familiar faces appear.)

Meanwhile, in anticipation of a speech, Baroness Tonge seems to be happy:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-38281950

But I digress.

An exhortation by her ladyship re "O Little Town of Bethlehem":

has prompted a well-received (by western Israel-haters) response on the thread by an Arab follower, posting a despicable distortion of history and insult to both Jews and Christians entitled "I met Jesus today".

His name was Palestinian 
Issa… Jesus he was called 
On the altar of “chosen-ness” he was crucified 
Time and time and time again 
***** 
His face was Palestinian 
Olive, with a hint of agony 
Yet 
Years of torture fail to conceal the glow 
The purity of his soul peeks through 
The sparkle in his eyes invites you to dive in 
***** 
His pain was Palestinian 
The colour of his words 
Grips your guts 
And squeeze… squeeze … squeeze 
Until you lose consciousness 
You fall on your knees 
Begging for forgiveness 
***** 
His faith was Palestinian 
“Their sadism too much to bear 
In the street I waited for a car 
No way out but to kill myself 
Twilight hour the fall of night 
The call to prayer woken my heart 
Healing balsam caressed my soul 
Maybe…. In this life… still…there is something worth living for” 
***** 
His heart was Palestinian 
Carved with sorrow 
Filled with love 
Flames of rage and roars of thunder 
Hound his torturer to his grave 
***** 
His tears were Palestinian 
His first crucifixion… he was only fourteen 
On the second, he was nineteen 
From then on
He was crucified every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year 
***** 
His dignity was Palestinian 
Anguished by his rapists 
With his broken back he stood tall 
His wounds run deep… his head held high 
He saw the rainbow in the horizon 
When all gave up he gave them hope 
***** 
His smile was Palestinian 
It has been said: 
“To smile when confronted with most severe oppression 
Is an act of Resistance 
Rooted 
In unparalleled beauty” 
The smile of Issa 
Was Palestinian 
 ***** 
His resilience was Palestinian 
“As he punched me in the face 
I felt stronger 
As he kicked me in the stomach 
I felt stronger 
As he slashed my arm 
I felt stronger”, he said 
 ***** 
His hope was Palestinian 
Insha’Allah, ya rab, Alhamdulillah 
Bouncy words sprinkled around 
Buds of trust bloom and grow 
His broad grin whiffs you to life 
His nightmares close their eyes 
His tales of horror lie to slumber 
When all lost hope he saw a future 
I saw Jesus today

Just another reminder of the duplicitous nonsense that unites so much of the anti-Israel movement today.

NUTS & a Nice Pair (videos)

Outrageously, since the education of children is in their members' care, Britain's left-dominated National Union of Teachers has been on the  anti-Israel trail for some time (as I showed here), and, here's one of the latest NUT members  who's keen to pass the anti-Israel message on:

'A teacher is organising a special awareness and fundraising evening after returning from a harrowing trip to Palestine.  Julia Simpkins, secretary of the Bolton-branch of National Union of Teachers (NUT), travelled with a 12-strong delegation to the country to find out about the conditions the Palestinians are forced to endure.  She said: "The NUT takes a delegation twice a year to Palestine so we can see what is happening and raise awareness of the issues back home and get support for the people."  .... Bolton Socialist Club is organising a Palestinian weekend at Bolton Socialist Club this week, starting Friday, with activities speakers and entertainment. Money raised will go towards helping Palestinian women go to university. On Sunday people will be embarking on a sponsored walk from Turton Tower at 10am.  Ms Simpkins said: ".... Israel does not want the Palestinian people there...."

The people who swallow Palestinian propaganda wholesale, and are probably likely to fall for this example in Bolton "'cos a teacher told me so" might have benefited from a pair of simple videos such as these, from the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, had not Pallywood and its fans infected them first.

Meanwhile, here is another nice pair, an imam from Leicester and a vicar from London saying nice things to and about one another.

First, in an ad:

 And secondly, in an Al Jazeera live broadcast:

https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE

All very jolly and civilised.  Hard on the face of it to begrudge. There's even a jocular reference to chicken soup.

But, it's (well, both, actually, ad and video, that is) recommended by our old mate, and anything our old mate recommends should probably ring alarm bells in every Zionist noddle.

I have no idea whether the clergyman featured shares Sizer's hostility towards Zionism, but speaking generally the trouble is that more and more and more Christians are allying with Muslims and tending to squeeze Jews (anti-Israel ones excepted) out of the equation.

That, of course, has a deleterious impact on the cause of Israel.

I guess it's an instance of what is often referred to as "Chrislam".

Perhaps the extraordinarily forthright critic of Sizerism Jacob Prasch would have a word for it.