"Too Late to Undo the False, Indeed Poisonous, Impressions":The ABC's apology for Stephen Sizer interview

Remember that insidious Pesach broadcast by the BBC's terrible Australian twin, the ABC, an interview with Stephen Sizer?

Well, in response to this robust protest by Peter Wertheim, the ABC has issued an apology of sorts to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ).

To quote a media release issued by the latter:

'The ABC has written to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) apologising for inaccuracies and for the omission of material context that occurred during an interview of Rev Dr Stephen Sizer which was aired on RN Breakfast on Good Friday, and the eve of the Jewish festival of Pesach (Passover), on 30 March 2018.

In a letter to ABC Managing Director, Michelle Guthrie, on 5 April 2018, the ECAJ complained that the interviewer, David Rutledge, had underplayed the gravity of accusations of antisemitism that had been made against Sizer and “projected a generally supportive attitude towards Sizer from the outset, which resulted in a soft interview that allowed Sizer’s self-serving, inaccurate answers to pass unchallenged.”

The ECAJ complaint alleged that “David Rutledge allowed Sizer to get away with claiming that none of the speakers at one of the conferences he addressed in Tehran in 2014 were criticised as antisemitic. In fact, as was reported at the time, the Iranian government-run Press TV described the conference as intending to “unveil the secrets behind the dominance of the Zionist lobby over the US and EU politics”, with one session devoted to examining “Mossad’s role in the 9/11 Coup d’Etat”, and another discussing “9/11 and the Holocaust as pro-Zionist ‘Public myths’ ”. In questioning Sizer, David Rutledge gave only partial information about, and under-played the full extent of, Sizer’s own statements legitimising outlandish conspiracy theories that blame Israel for the September 11 terror attacks in the US. The audience was not informed that the link which Sizer posted on his Facebook page in 2015 was to an article entitled “9/11 Israel did it”, and that Sizer had subsequently publicly apologised for posting it. There was no mention of the fact that Sizer’s Church in the UK had been so embarrassed by his public statements that it had extracted an undertaking from him to stop commenting on the subject while he remained a vicar, an undertaking which Sizer broke.”

In response, the ABC wrote, “The interview included information to indicate that Dr Sizer holds controversial views; is a critic of Israel; at times has been accused of anti-Semitism and that his activities could be used by explicitly anti-Semitic groups. However, Dr Sizer’s mischaracterisation of the Tehran conference which was not challenged or corrected in the interview, together with the lack of information on his repeated censure by his Church was not in keeping with the ABC’s editorial standard for accuracy: the interview did not present these issues with the necessary material context.”

“The program has appended an Editor’s Note to the website and provided relevant links to further information (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/good-friday-8:05/9601212). ThThe ABC apologises for this lapse and would like to assure you that this finding has been discussed with the program area and RN management, and a summary will be published on the ABC website”

The following note has now been included on the page of the ABC website that relates to the program that was aired on ABC RN on 30 March 2018: 

“NOTE: Presenter David Rutledge acknowledged to the audience that Dr Sizer’s views are controversial, that he has been accused of anti-Semitism and that he attended a conference in Tehran in 2014, which has been criticized for including speakers with anti-Semitic affiliations. However, the ABC accepts that the interview did not provide sufficient context for listeners to adequately understand the extent of the controversies. The ABC acknowledges that the Tehran conference did include anti-Semitic elements, and information on the Anglican Church’s censure of Dr Sizer can be found here.”'

Commenting on the ABC response, ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim welcomed the ABC’s acknowledgement of inaccuracies and omission of material context, and its apology, but added, “Sadly, this will come too late to undo the false, indeed poisonous, impressions given to many ABC listeners to the program who heard the interview but will not be aware of the ABC’s admission of error and apology”.

“The ABC has also failed to appreciate the gravity of the wrong done when David Rutledge took it upon himself to tell Sizer, and the audience, “I accept you are not an antisemite”, instead of allowing the audience to draw its own conclusions. The ABC has pointed to David Rutledge’s academic qualifications and said that the ABC’s editorial standards permitted him to provide his own analysis. However, David Rutledge provided no analysis at all, only his own unsupported assertion. There is a big difference.”

Wertheim also criticised the ABC’s failure to address specifically the ECAJ’s complaint that “the ABC audience is surely entitled to know what Christian Zionism is from the point of view of a knowledgeable and articulate exponent, not merely from the point of view of a harsh and discredited critic”.

“We are now considering pursuing these unresolved aspects of our complaint with the Australian Communications and Media Authority”, he concluded. [Emphasis added]

In Australia, Sizer's Charm Offensive Rumbles On

Seen below enjoying a barbecued Bush brekkie, our old cobber the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Mediators outfit, is, as regular readers of my blog will know, on a "tour" of Australia.

Needless to say, this news from the United States, to which he alerted his Facebook faithful around the start of his visit here, has not warmed the cockles of his heart, nor of his followers:

It's precisely that sort of thing, Christian support for Israel and Zionism, that the ex-Surrey vicar has come to Oz to endeavour to prevent and undermine, for his tour is under the auspices of such groups as Palestine Israel Ecumenical Network and Fighting Fathers Ministries:

I note with interest  that he's given an interview to a Christian magazine in this country, Sight, and that the subsequent article, by David Adams, is headed 'Middle East: Anglican "Peacemaker" calls for Christians to be part of the solution in ending Israel-Palestine conflict'.  It begins:

'Christians in the West need to cease giving uncritical, one-sided support to Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and instead engage with Christians in the Middle Eastern church who are working for peace and reconciliation.

That’s according to Rev Dr Stephen Sizer, an Anglican minister and founder of the UK-based Peacemaker Trust, a non-denominational Christian charity which works with churches in East Africa and the Middle East, particularly in areas where the church is marginalized or persecuted or where there are religious tensions, on projects based around evangelism, discipleship and issues of justice and peace.'

Well, the church is hardly 'marginalised or persecuted' in Israel, so it is surprising indeed that Adams was not more searching in his interview with our old cobber, asking him why in particular he focuses so much time and effort in knocking the Jewish State.  Inter alia, Adams writes that

'Rev Dr Sizer is spending a couple of weeks in Australia speaking at a series of events on a mission to “deconstruct” how the Bible has, in his words, been "misused" to justify what he describes as the “apartheid regime in Israel today” and how Christians can be involved in bringing peace to the region.'

He can hardly be unaware of the ex-vicar's lack of impartiality on this issue, as that quoted sentence and other passages in the article make clear. Yet he naively writes of Sizer's "stance of not taking sides"!

Blithely, the article tells us that Sizer

'rejects the idea that he is anti-Israel – saying he has always been opposed to racism and anti-Semitism – and says that he wants to see Israel “survive and prosper as a nation for its citizens, for those who choose to live there or who were born there”....

He says that he prays a solution to the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories can be reached without further bloodshed but he believes that such a solution will only came about when Israel either gives up the West Bank and allows “an independent, sovereign Palestinian state” or embraces a one state solution “whereby everyone within Israel and the Occupied Territories has equal rights and the right to vote, the right to education, healthcare and so on”....'

This presumably means that Sizer has reneged on his apparently unequivocal declaration of support for a one-state solution.

And his support for the so-called Palestinian Arab "Right of Return", which would doom Israel's existence in one fell swoop.  I mean, a man of the cloth would hardly be likely to lie, would he?


As for Adams and perhaps the majority of Christians in Australia who are coming under Sizer's current charm offensive, I've a sneaking suspicion that they are unaware of some of our pro-Iran old cobber's excesses.

Like his cosying up to Arafat:

His notorious 9/11 post:

 His vocal support in London for Al Quds Day:

Maybe Olivier Melnick's post here would be a good introductory starting point.

Betsy Childs's post here is a cracker too.

In Oz, Waters Drizzles & Sizer Sizzles

How odd it seems that old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemaker Mediators outfit, seems so unconcerned about the lack of churches in the land that's exported Wahhabism to the West:

But I digress.  A couple of days after posting the above, and about as long after my post here, Stephen Sizer flew into a rainy Sydney, to the delight of his Aussie counterpart, Father Dave Smith of Holy Trinity Church, Dulwich Hill, seen below at an Australia Palestine Advocacy Network function some time ago.

Incidentally, have you seen aged rocker Roger Waters's outrageous remarks at APAN's recent function, alleging Israel has never wanted peace with the Palestinian Arabs and was always intent on land grabbing?

Warning: the above's 72 minutes long, I'm given to understand.  This first still comes at around 1:30 if you want to see the outrageous bit to which I refer:

Needless to say, APAN is delighted that Sizer has come to Australia.

But again I digress.  Here are the two anti-Israel Anglican clerics all smiles at breakfast on Sizer's first day in town.

And our old friend, a seasoned traveller in spreading the anti-Christian Zionism cause, seems to have wasted little time in meeting people who matter and in attempting to widen a fan base here.

See what I mean?

And

(For Lynn Arnold see here)

I don't think this Sizer fan (below, one of the many evident antisemites among the vicar's Facebook friends) is Aussie, but he's delighted anyway:

Permit me a cynical, ironic smile while I recall that disgusting 9/11 post of Sizer's, and not only it, as so many images I've reproduced over the years indicate:

But we smile at Sizer's "Australian tour" at our peril.  In the anti-Israel propaganda stakes the urbane and softly spoken ex-vicar's a pro.  What he's spreading and who he's influencing during his time in the southern hemisphere should have friends of Israel worried.

Stephen Sizer Goes Down Under

From the man who gave us this, screenshot by yours truly

This:

Yes, our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, CEO of Peacemaker Mediators, so-called, will come amongst his antipodean faithful at last.

Balmain Uniting Church would appear to be a typical leftist-hijacked Protestant church of which there are many like examples  in the English-speaking world.  The Uniting Church in Australia (an amalgam of Methodists and Presbyerians, but not all Presbyterians) has long been known for its antipathy to Israel.

I'll follow these developments with interest!

You'll notice that enquiries are to be addressed to Father Dave (pictured last year)

of the Anglican Holy Trinity Church in Sydney's Dulwich Hill, who's on record as declaring:

 "Al Quds Day is a day when God brings us together ... an intrinsically religious event"

I've featured him on my blog before, for example here and here

Meanwhile, as the scholar Raymond Ibrahim has observed repeatedly, the plight of Islam-persecuted Christians in the Middle East goes almost totally ignored.

Funny (Funny peculiar not Funny Ha Ha) that innit.

Oh, and speaking of Sizer, see page 56 of David Collier's stupendous research report here (Hat tip: J)