"Stefan" Says: "Ben Gurion Airport Security is Not What it Used to Be ..."

Ah, how pristine our old friend Stephen Sizer's passport appears to be in this 2013 checkpoint photo opportunity:

As gleaming as this token, honorary one the peripatetic ex-vicar acquired on his travels recently:

With frequent peregrinations hither and thither in the cause of undermining Christian support for Israel it's not surprising that the owner's EU one is looking a tad knocked about a bit.

Our old friend has been visiting Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Ramallah, all the while treating his followers on social media to such posts as these (the first two are nods to Sandra Watfa):

which, inter alia, attracted such odious and unchallenged responses as these from his disciples:

 There was also this from the so-called Peacemaker Mediators' CEO:

That article:

'Howard Jacobson, Simon Sebag Montefiore and Simon Schama posted an open letter in The Times in which they said they were “troubled by the tone and direction of debate about Israel and Zionism within the Labour Party”.

In the centenary year of the Balfour Declaration, in which the British government committed its support to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine, the trio say: “Zionism is the right of the Jewish people to self-determination. We believe that anti-Zionism, with its antisemitic characteristics, has no place in a civil society.”

 In 2009, Booker Prize winner Jacobson, now 75, wrote that criticism of Israel was “a desire to word a country out of existence,” and this week he again equated criticism of Israel with the will to destroy it.

“We do not object to fair criticism of Israel governments,” the three wrote, “but this has grown to be indistinguishable from a demonisation of Zionism itself – the right of the Jewish people to a homeland, and the very existence of a Jewish state.”

They said Jewish conspiracy theories had resurfaced along with “the promotion of vicious, fictitious parallels with genocide and Nazism,” adding: “How, in such instances, is anti-Zionism distinguishable from antisemitism?”

Adding their voice to a growing debate about anti-Zionism and antisemitism, the authors also allege that anti-Zionists “claim innocence of any antisemitic intent” but “frequently borrow the libels of classical Jew-hating”.

Turning their combined attention to Labour, they say “such themes and language have become widespread in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party… so far the Labour leadership’s reaction has been derisory. It is not enough to denounce all racisms”.'

And if by this post he's attempting to indict Israel, he's barking up the wrong tree:

 For we read:

 'Approximately 215 million Christians experience high, very high, or extreme persecution. North Korea remains the most dangerous place to be a Christian (for 14 straight years). Islamic extremism remains the global dominant driver of persecution, responsible for initiating oppression and conflict in 35 out of the 50 countries on the 2017 list.  Ethnic nationalism is fast becoming a major driver of persecution. “While this took an anti-establishment form in the West, in Asia it took an anti-minorities form, fueled by dramatic religious nationalism and government insecurity. It is common—and easy—for tottering governments to gain quick support by scapegoating Christians. The total number of persecution incidents in the top 50 most dangerous countries increased, revealing the persecution of Christians worldwide as a rising trend.

The most violent: Pakistan, which rose to No. 4 on the list for a level of violence “exceeding even northern Nigeria.”

....The top 10 nations where it is most dangerous and difficult to practice the Christian faith are:

North Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Eritrea'

But coming back to that passport with its Israeli stamps, here's what our old friend has to say, along with his fellow Christian Israel-basher Jeremy Moodey, who as its (now ex-) CEO put Embrace the Middle East (formerly BibleLands) on its present anti-Israel path:

 As to why these campaigners against Christian Zionism are so deplorable, read what French-born US-based Olivier Melnick wrote in 2015 here

Incidentally, on the subject of the phrase "Judeo-Christian" there is a most contentious current article by a Canadian  British-based academic here

Red & White & Black & Green: Moodey Hues of an English Summer

"Here we go gathering nuts in May ..."

Above: The Richmond Palestine Solidarity Group takes to the streets in their leafy part of outer London.  Look closely.  Recognise anyone? (No? Never mind. Clue below. Read on.)

Now that our old friend the ex-vicar of Virginia Water has cut loose from a rural setting and the censorious eye of the Bishop of Guildford, it's presumably full steam ahead for the Israel-ramming vehicle he skippers, Peacemaker Mediators, moored, so to speak, at the edge of Southampton Water.

And so Skipper Sizer has wasted little time after cutting loose in posting this nasty Michael Leunig cartoon to social media.

Employed by the Israel-bashing Aussie newspaper The Age (aka, from way back, "The Spencer Street Soviet"), Leunig, like Sizer himself, has often been accused of harbouring antisemitic views.

The above cartoon (first) appeared in The Age on 11 December 2012, prompting the following response (quoted inter alia) from academic Dr Dvir Abramovich ,head of of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission [emphasis added]:

'.... Leunig's cartoon takes the noble words of anti-Nazi cleric Martin Niemoller decrying the passivity of bystanders in the face of Nazi evil and substitutes the Nazis referred to in the original poem with Israelis: "First they came for the Palestinians and I did not speak out".

Leunig obscenely equates the actions of Israel in Gaza to those of the Nazis and asserts the people who were once the objects of Hitler's extermination and their descendants are now committing genocide against the Palestinians and are thus the present world's Nazis. I wonder if Leunig paused to consider how a survivor of the Holocaust would react when they came upon his cartoon? Understandably shocked, they would ask, "How is it possible for anyone to compare the organised, industrial murder of six million Jews in gas chambers, in death camps, in ghettos and in open fields to what is happening in Gaza? Why would any person liken Israel's protection of its citizens from rockets to the genocidal and bestial liquidation of the Jews?"

Equating Israeli policies to those of the Nazis has been identified as anti-Semitic by the EU, the US State Department, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, since it calls for Israel's destruction.

.... Anyone with the vaguest knowledge of the Holocaust will know that by any measure comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is a kind of deliberate amnesia of the monstrous policies of the Nazis that minimises their genocidal extent and intent, and instead maligns Israel....

I wonder, did Leunig's "duty and conscience" compel him to sound the alarm all those years while thousands of rockets systematically fell on Israelis, attacks that Israeli author and peace activist Amos Oz called "a war crime and a crime against humanity"?

Did Leunig ever express the "unspoken grief" of Israeli families who lost loved ones to terrorism? Did he liken the actions of state genocides, brutal executions and large-scale massacres of civilians in Rwanda, Darfur, Congo, Nigeria, Syria, Myanmar, Somalia and Ethiopia to those of the Nazis? Did he call Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "excessively homicidal" for wanting to wipe Israel off the map?

 Or is this epitaph reserved only for Israel? Why does Leunig absolve Palestinians of all responsibility for their situation and ignore their behaviour against Israel?

....In his cartoon, Leunig also descends into parroting another anti-Jewish screed, that of the nefarious, all-powerful Jewish lobby that is lurking behind the scenes, ready to pounce and stifle critics of Israel....

Criticism of Israeli policies is entirely acceptable and Leunig is entitled to his views. But such cartoons not only poison public debate, they close it. After all, how do you discuss the conflict with someone who compares Israelis to Nazis?....'

(Read Abramovich's entire article here)

If my memory serves me correctly, Sizer has linked to that cartoon before.  The fact that he's trotted it out again, not long after the launch on 6 May of Peacemaker Mediators (whose skipper is warmly commended by a nice but apparently naive clerical gentleman called Richard Bewes here) must surely be interpreted as signaling the overriding direction and thrust of Sizer's new vehicle and into what seas it intends to sail.

Directly above (in the quoted text of Abramovich's piece) is  another of the ex-vicar's very recent postings, this time regarding the definition of antisemitism.  It too acts as a signal.  Tomlinson, by the way, was retained for his legal opinion by, to quote the senior barrister himself,

 'Free Speech on Israel, Independent Jewish Voices, Jews for Justice for Palestinians and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to provide an Opinion on the effect of the Government’s decision to “adopt” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (“IHRA”) non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism (“the IHRA Definition”). I am also asked to consider the meaning and effect of the IHRA Definition and its compatibility with the obligations of public authorities under the Human Rights Act 1998 (“the HRA”).'

Indeed, here's a member of that vehicle's "International Board of Reference," Jenny Tonge, always eager to bash Israel, showing by that keffiyeh how she celebrated the month of May, in Richmond, Surrey, her constituency when she was a Lib Dem MP.

Like Sizer, she too has posted the link to Tomlinson's article (and so, with a suggestion that he. himself, is accordingly exculpated, has the disgraceful and disgraced Lib Dem politician David Ward, not, as far as I know, connected with Peacemaker Mediators, but for whose despicable remarks regarding Jews see here and here) 

With its course charted and steered by dyed-in-the-wool anti-Israel bigots, Peacemaker Mediators is flying false colours!

For most of the principal names associated with it so far see my blog here
 
Also preparing for an Israel-demonising occasion this northern hemisphere summer is another serial Israel-hater, the Reverend Lucy Winkett, incumbent of St James's Church, Piccadilly, notorious for its anti-Israel carol service  ('Among the guests were [sic] Baroness Tonge, the Liberal Democrat peer who was sacked from the party's front bench in 2004 after saying she "understood" why Palestinians became suicide bombers and that she would consider becoming one if she were Palestinian') and its replica "Wall" (see Douglas Murray here and Palestinian terror victim Kay Wilson's open letter here and my open letter to Lucy Winkett here):

"Join us this June for a challenging and thought-provoking lecture that explores Britain's historical and current relationship with Palestine.

We are privileged to welcome as our speaker Professor Avi Shlaim [pictured], Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College and Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford. [Emphasis added here and below.]

2017 marks some significant and momentous anniversaries: 100 years since the Balfour Declaration, which committed Britain to support a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine; 70 years since the ill-fated UN Partition Plan for Palestine; 50 years since the Six Day War and the start of Israel’s occupation; and ten years since the start of Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Professor Shlaim will explore this topic in his lecture titled ‘Britain and Palestine: From Balfour to Blair and Beyond’.

We hope you can join us for this event."

We are told:

"Tickets are free but must be booked in advance. There will be a retiring collection for the work of Embrace. http://www.embraceme.org/events/annual-lecture-2017"

No attempt at balance on Lucy Winkett's part, evidently.  Just a diet of anti-Israel propaganda from a master chef at dishing it up.

I mean, where to begin on Shlaim? Here, perhaps. Or, better still, here, where the psychological origins of his hatred of Israel are apparently laid bare.


But what can we expect of Lucy Winkett, who following part of an all-women clerics' visit to "Israel/Palestine" under the auspices of Christian Aid way back in 2002 took a (premeditated?) swipe at Israel in the unhallowed pages of The Guardian and who chairs Israel-bashing NGO the Amos Trust, which, to quote NGO Monitor here,

 'Supports projects in India, Nicaragua, South Africa, Palestine-Israel, Uganda and the Philippines.

 Promotes a one-sided, politicized view of the conflict. Describes the “devastating impact of: the wall, settlements blocks and travel restrictions upon Palestinian life,” with no mention of terrorism or Palestinian corruption.

Uses “apartheid” rhetoric.

 In December 2008, the group marketed “poignant, ironic” nativity scenes depicting the Security Barrier, claiming that  “this year the wise men won’t get to the stable.” This project has been criticized for its anti-Semitic undertones. This theme is also evident in Amos Trust’s 2008 Christmas Cards, and similar cards in 2006.

 A trip to “Israel/Palestine,” “The Gospel Under Occupation“, scheduled for 2009, is designed for church leaders, and will work with radical anti-Israel groups such as Sabeel and ICAHD.

Joined 2006 anti-Israel divestment campaign along with Friends of Sabeel UK, ICAHD, and War on Want; listed as a member of the Joint Committee for Palestine which sponsored the 2004 event, “Remembering President Arafat.”

Partners in “Palestine-Israel”: The Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, Wi’am Conflict Resolution Centre in Bethlehem, Al Ahli Hospital, Gaza, and the Open House Community Reconciliation Centre in Ramle, Israel'.

And as my header indicates this survey of a forthcoming summer of Israel-bashing is not complete without mention of our old mate Jeremy Moodey.

This former investment banker (Rothschilds, no less), former would-be Conservative candidate and former head honcho of Embrace the Middle East is now CEO of an outfit called Sons and Friends of the Clergy; established in 1655, it provides financial grants and other support to needy Anglican clergy, ordinands and their families.

But the baleful legacy of his time at Embrace the Middle East, formerly BibleLands  (see my post here) endures, as seen in the involvement of that body with the Shlaim event, and he's cock-a-hoop over the forthcoming (25-28 August) Greenbelt festival.

"Great to see Embrace the Middle East and Amos Trust team up with the Greenbelt Festival to focus on Palestine this year," he tells his Facebook faithful.  "Wonderful line-up!"

With the exception of Qaisy, the persons Moodey specifically mentions in that short encomium are listed in the "Ideas"section on the festival's website.  Below are a few of the people listed in that section, in the order given online.

I have linked only to those who appear to have form on Israel and will be in all likelihood focusing on Israel at Greenbelt.  (The list includes  activists in Guardianista-type causes, some calculated to have the average guest at an average vicar's average tea party calling for a tot of brandy, but not all will be focusing on "Israel/Palestine".  These I have omitted.)

 Baroness Sayeeda Warsi Baroness Warsi is an obvious darling of the organisers, for her criticism of Israel and especially her recent demand that Britons who serve in the IDF be prosecuted.  Here's part of a report co-written by none other than Israel-hater Peter Oborne (q.v.) of whom Moodey writes so warmly in the above post:

'Sayeeda Warsi, who resigned her cabinet post over the UK government’s failure to condemn Israel’s assault on Gaza, has called for British volunteers for the Israeli army to be treated as foreign fighters and prosecuted on their return to the UK.

The former foreign office minister, who now holds the title of baroness in the House of Lords, seeks to close a loophole she says is designed to protect Israel. It distinguishes between Britons who fight for state armies like Israel and Pakistan, and those who fight for non-state groups like Kurdish and militant organisations.

In an interview with the Middle East Eye, Warsi said: “One of the questions I asked the Foreign Office was that we have a distinction between state actors and non-state actors.

“If you go out there and fight for any group, you will be subject to prosecution when you get back. If you go out and fight for Assad, I presume, under our law, that is okay. That can't be right.”

“The only reason we allow the loophole to exist is because of the IDF [Israel Defence Forces], because we are not brave enough to say if you hold British citizenship, you make a choice. You fight for our state only. That has to go out strong.”

Warsi, the UK's first female Muslim cabinet minister, said that while public debate focused exclusively on demanding loyalty from British Muslims, the same rule should apply to all.

“You have to belong to something and belonging to Britain for Muslims is a thing we talk about a lot,” she said. “We don't talk about it in relation to other communities. We accept that other communities hold multiple identities. Let's just shut down this loophole. If you don't fight for Britain, you do not fight."....'

Peter Oborne Yes, he has form.  Plenty of it.  To quote Honest Reporting:

'Back in 2009, Oborne presented an episode of the Channel 4 investigative program Dispatches. The broadcast examined “one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain, which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel”, directly attacking and smearing HonestReporting in the process.

Oborne and his cameraman even burst into HonestReporting’s Jerusalem office, with the camera rolling, looking for evidence of HonestReporting’s involvement in a shadowy “Israel lobby” operating in UK politics and media. Needless to say, Oborne’s conspiracy theories did not lead anywhere.

Oborne, however, continues his fixation with pro-Israel “lobby” organizations. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he goes after the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) group, affiliated with the UK’s ruling Conservative Party.

In it, he refers to briefing packs on the Iran deal given to Conservative MPs at a CFI luncheon as “propaganda.” Throughout his piece, Oborne portrays the efforts of legitimate organizations advocating for Israel as being of a malign and sinister nature...'

And to quote Tom Gross:

"If only.

Whereas there is a pro-Israel lobby with some influence in the U.S. (though not the kind of influence ascribed to it by anti-Semites), contrary to what Channel 4 and others think, there is no effective pro-Israel lobby in Britain.

The complete lack of any effective pro-Israel lobby in Britain (as opposed to well organized anti-Israel groups) goes a long way to explaining why some of the coverage of Israel in the British media is among the worst in the world, and sometimes rivals the Iranian and Egyptian media for its sheer nastiness.

It also explains why Britain failed to back Israel last week at the U.N. General Assembly vote on the Goldstone report into Israeli war crimes, while other democracies – including the U.S., Italy, Germany, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Macedonia and the Czech Republic – did vote with Israel."

See also here

Natalie Bennett  This Australian-born leader (2012-16) of the Green Party of England and Wales is like the rest of the Greens mob a BDS supporter.  The Jewish Chronicle reported in 2015:

'....The Green Party manifesto [has] called for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which is worth more than £1 billion a year.

Ms Bennett, who has never been to Israel or the West Bank, said: “That agreement should be contingent on respecting human rights and international law. Until Israel is in compliance with international law, I don’t think we should have that trade deal.

“I believe we should stop arms sale to Israel. I believe that we should be using diplomatic pressure to push Israel to respect international law and UN resolutions.

“I believe we should also stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia.”

The Green Party has come under fire after Twickenham candidate Tanya Williams called Israel “a racist and apartheid state” on Tuesday and deputy leader Sharer Ali was filmed at an anti-Israel rally saying: “Just because you observe the niceties of Holocaust Memorial Day it does not mean you have learned the lessons of history.”

Ms Bennett said she would not make comparisons between the Holocaust and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but added: “When I am talking about the situation between Palestine and Israel, I focus on the behaviour of the Israeli government.

“Britain’s place in the world should be as a champion of human rights and democracy.”...'

Teresa Forcades i Vila Predictably, this radical Benedictine nun from Catalonia (how the BBC appears to love her!) has anti-Israel activism in her repertoire:

"...Teresa Forcades was deported from Israel on Saturday January 23, 2016 as she tried to enter the country. The reason for her trip was a two week teaching commitment she had at the Faculty of Teology at the Dormition Abby in East Jerusalem about the Holy Trinity. Montserrat Viñas, the emerita abbess of the Sant Benet de Montserrat monestery, Forcades travel companion, was allowed to enter Israel after being interogated. Forcades was sent back to Spain after her registration and interogation, but not before passing the night of Friday January 22 at the Tel Aviv airport detention facility.

In a statement given to the press, close contacts of Teresa's said that she was not given an explanation neither by immigration officers nor by security personnal as to the reasons she was not allowed to enter Israel, but informed that her presence there was considered 'dangerous'...."

Read the rest here

Robert Cohen A former BBC employee, he'a a trustee of the Amos Trust and runs the blog Micah's Paradigm Shift. The blog is dearly beloved of Sizer, Moodey and their ilk, and given its content it's not difficult to fathom why.
To quote the man himself:

"Robert Cohen lives in North Yorkshire in Britain and began writing on Israel-Palestine in 2011. His work has been regulary published at Mondoweiss, Tikkun Daily and Jews for Justice for Palestinians. Writing from the Edge broadens Robert’s remit to wider issues of Jewish interest from a British perspective. Expect some radically dissseting [sic] views on Isreal [sic!], commentary on Jewish-Christian interfaith issues and life as the Jewish husband of a Church of England vicar."

Better fix those misspellings, Robert.  And being published by the extremist antisemitic site Mondoweiss is nothing to boast about outside antisemitic circles.

Salma Yaqoob This political activist of Pakistani parentage is a former leader of the Respect Party, founded by George Galloway, and represented the party on Birmingham City Council, where her failure to stand to honour Britain's most decorated war veteran was widely criticised. She heads the Birmingham Stop the War Coalition.  Her rabble-rousing cries against Israel following the Mavi Marmara affair are no doubt sufficient to endear her to the Greenbelt crowd ("We are here to say this .... the days of this racist apartheid Israeli regime are numbered ... We want sanctions on Israel" which she characterised as "a terrorist state ... a rogue state").

Sahar Vardia She is a young radical Israeli who refuses to serve in the IDF.  It is of course significant that Greenbelt is evidently not interested in the viewpoints of mainstream Israelis, but only in those of dissident extremists, making no attempt at balance.

For more on Greenbelt see here 

Moodey Views: Bile behind the smile

It seems our old friend, the smiley Jeremy Moodey, is stepping down as head honcho of the NGO Embrace the Middle East (formerly BibleLands) for pastures new.

He  leaves the NGO a nasty legacy of Israel-demonisation:

'While Embrace the Middle East runs schools, and organizes educational programming and other community development initiatives, it promotes an entirely biased and distorted view of the conflict based solely on the Palestinian narrative of victimization and Israeli aggression.

Endorsed the Kairos Palestine document, which promotes BDS (boycotts, divestment and sanctions) and denies Jewish historical connections to Israel. 

CEO Jeremy Moody [sic] has called Zionism “an incoherent and racist theology.”

Moody posted a July 9, 2015 tweet endorsing BDS, stating: “Ten years of #BDS against Israel’s occupation of #Palestine. Major achievements for a movement that is now mainstream.”Moody sent an October 2013 letter to The Methodist Observer “explaining why Embrace the Middle East is encouraging Christians to consider BDS as a non-violent tool to end the occupation.”

Posted an August 17, 2015 tweet alleging, “The reality of Israeli settler- colonialism in #Palestine: bulldozers demolish ancient olive trees nr Bethlehem today.”

Embrace the Middle East published an “Advent Services Resource Pack,” which links “the familiar Christmas story to the stories of those living in the lands of the Bible TODAY,” in an attempt to exploit religious symbols and narratives to demonize Israel.

Publishes lesson plans for teachers to use in schools. One, on the theme of “Walls,” attempts to explain “the difficulties some Palestinian children have in getting to school” due to the security barrier. The lesson plan promotes the Palestinian narrative of victimization and Israeli aggression, while ignoring that the security barrier was constructed in response to a prolonged and brutal suicide bombing campaign by Palestinians groups against Israeli civilians.

Co-signed an August 2015 campaign, calling on world leaders “to press the Israeli government to lift the blockade on Gaza,” while altogether omitting that the blockade was implemented in an effort to stop Palestinian terrorists from smuggling of weapons and rockets into Gaza that would later be used to target Israeli civilians. Co-signatories include a number of other highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict: Broederlijk Delen, Christian Aid, CCFD, Diakonia, French Platform of NGOs for Palestine, Heinrich Boll Foundation Palestine, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Medico International, Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian People’s Aid, Oxfam, Pax Christi, Physicians for Human Rights, Trocaire, Lutheran World Federation, World Vision, and others.'

See more, with links, here

The most cursory glance at Mr Moodey's Twitter page indicates just how one tiny sliver of a country in the Middle East, that belonging to da Joos, tends to occupy his thoughts, and not in a pleasant way.

He's also got his boxer shorts in a twist over definitions of antisemitism, ventilating his views in a letter to a Church of England newspaper  (image on Twitter: the letter, that is, not the boxer shorts).

I wonder whether he would question Muslim definitions of Islamophobia.  (Nah, I don't think so!)

The most recent (at the time I type this) tweet of his relates to Stephen Sizer, whom he's always prone to defend.

That tweet's similar to what Mr Moodey's posted on Facebook (at left, above).

Only the tweet lacks the readers' comments which, though not without challenge from fair-minded folk, trivialise and at least on the part of one Sizer fan, actually deny that the vicar ever linked to that notorious "Israel did 9/11" article in the first place!


Former Foreign Office diplomat Mr Moodey, in his "valedictory despatch" to his NGO, can't resist a parting shot at Israel, heaping upon it most if not all  of the blame for the plight of Christians suffering under the jackboot of Hamas:

"The last seven years have been tumultuous for the region. The so-called Arab Spring, which began in 2011 brought about the downfall of regimes in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia; The terrible war in Syria, the most violent and catastrophic conflict for at least a generation; Another brutal, unnecessary war in Yemen.

A succession of wars in Gaza and the effective collapse of any meaningful peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The apparent abandonment by President Donald Trump of the ‘two-state solution’ in Israel/Palestine, without any obvious plan for what alternative solution to put in its place. The ongoing violence in Iraq and the emergence, seemingly from nowhere, of extreme Islamism in the form of ISIS, or Da’esh as many prefer to call it.

Meanwhile the historic Christian communities of the region have suffered: Persecuted by ISIS in Iraq and Syria, subjected to attacks on their churches and cathedrals in Egypt, humiliated and oppressed by occupation in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The situation in Gaza is perhaps a microcosm of the wider region. When I arrived as CEO of what was then BibleLands in 2009, the tiny Christian community in Gaza totalled around 1,500. Today that community numbers barely 1,000, as Palestinian Christian families emigrate to escape the blockade and violence, and possibly also Islamist rule in the form of Hamas. At this rate of attrition, the last Palestinian Christian will leave Gaza in just over a decade."

Now let's hear from a specialist in tracing the plight of Christians in the Middle East, a man, writing last year, who knows exactly where the blame for their persecution in Gaza belongs:

'The plight of Christians living in Gaza under the Palestinian authority continues to worsen. According to a new Arabic language report, recent years have “witnessed a critical upsurge against the Christians,” who only amount to approximately 2,500 people—surrounded by approximately 1.5 million Muslims. Local authorities have abandoned the tiny minority to Islamist elements who have “placed great and continuous pressure” on the Christians.

“At times we hear of the bombing of a Christian bookshop and assaults on churches and other Christian institutions; other times we hear of the kidnapping of Christians and the coercion of them to embrace the religion of Muhammad,” says the report.

In mid October, Christians in Gaza led a protest, calling for the return of their kidnapped children and loved ones. They held up signs saying “I am a Christian and boast of my cross.” Bishop Alexios of the region “confirmed that the Christians who converted to Islam did so under threats, coercion, compulsion, and force.” His church also submitted a formal petition to the governor of the region, Ismail Haniyeh, calling on him to investigate matters, but received no response.

Palestinian Muslim leaders say that such Christians convert of their own free will and without pressure; however, these same Muslim leaders refuse to let their Christian families meet with or even learn the whereabouts of these recent converts, so they can confirm if their conversions were committed freely or under duress.

The report adds that Gaza’s Christians are calling on the Christian world to intervene. The bishop said that he is trying to communicate all of this to the Vatican, the United Nations, and the United States.'

 
Active directors of Embrace the Middle East:

Mariam Tadros .
https://site2corp.com/uk/mariam-tadros
Tanas Emill Tanas Alqassis
https://site2corp.com/uk/tanas-emill-tanas-alqassis
Dr Madeleine Davies
https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/english-at-reading/tag/dr-madeleine-davies/
https://site2corp.com/uk/madeleine-davies-1
Dr Kathryn Ann Kraft
https://site2corp.com/uk/kathryn-ann-kraft
Revd Brian Stephen Jolly
https://site2corp.com/uk/brian-stephen-jolly-1
Stephen Philip Dengate
https://site2corp.com/uk/stephen-philip-dengate
Christine Anne Clayton
https://site2corp.com/uk/christine-anne-clayton-1
John Philip Greville Neate
https://site2corp.com/uk/john-philip-greville-neate
Anthony James Ball
https://site2corp.com/uk/anthony-james-ball-2
Richard Brian Mcgucken
https://site2corp.com/uk/richard-brian-mcgucken
Lisa Jane Toner
https://site2corp.com/uk/lisa-jane-toner
Hugh Rowland Bradley
https://site2corp.com/uk/hugh-rowland-bradleyI

(hat  tip: E. Crabtree)

 http://www.embraceme.org/trustees

As Sizer Announces Retirement, UK's Israel-Demonising Christians Shifting into High Gear? [updated]

Our old mate Stephen Sizer, vicar of Virginia Water, vice-chair of Biblica Europe and trainer for Christianity Explored, recently made an announcement to his followers on social media.

The Israel-bashing Anglican cleric, who in January 2015 infamously made  an odious post on Facebook suggesting Israel's involvement in the 9/11 atrocity,  has advised:

 "Easter 2017 will mark my 20th anniversary as vicar of Virginia Water. After prayerful reflection and in consultation with our Church Council, I plan to retire from parish ministry on Easter Sunday, 16th April.

God willing, I will then dedicate the rest of my active life to serving the Lord wherever the Church is under-resourced, disadvantaged or persecuted, where human rights are denied, or justice, peace and reconciliation needed.

Friends have helped set up a charity to facilitate this. We will launch the charity at a reception on Saturday 3rd December, 19:00 at Christ Church, Virginia Water. Garth Hewitt, one of our trustees, will be performing songs from his new album, Peace at Christmas...."

A message from Balfour Project stalwart Mary Grey

What might that charity be?  (For Hewitt see here)

The six-month ban from social media imposed on Sizer by his bishop as a result of that 9/11 post has long since expired. As far as I'm aware, the vicar (whose posts suggest political support for Jeremy Corbyn) has avoided directly mentioning the subject of Israel on his Facebook posts since his ban expired, being content to "like" posts on that subject by such "Friends" of his as the Israel-demonising Jenny Tonge.

And, boy, does the vicar have a lot of anti-Israel, nay,  rabidly anti-Israel, Friends, including antisemitic ones (just google Tony Gratrex, for instance).

Sizer's resignation of his pulpit will presumably unshackle him, or perhaps "unmuzzle him" would be a better way of putting it, and we can presumably expect him to resume his active campaigning against Israel and Christian Zionism.  After all, 2 November 2017 will be the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, and Israel-bashers galore (many of them connected with the so-called Balfour Project) are seemingly preparing to shift into high gear for that.

Closely allied to Sizer is former British diplomat, Rothschilds Bank executive and thwarted would-be Conservative parliamentary candidate Jeremy Moodey, CEO since 2009 of Embrace the Middle East (a Christian charity formerly known as Biblelands).

As a Christian Moodey-watcher, aghast at Moodey's turning that organisation into 'an anti-Zionist propaganda mill,' observed in 2012 (a statement as true now as then): 

".... Unfortunately, mixed in with Embrace’s good work is an alarming amount of hostility toward the Jewish state. Israel is regularly cast as the villain in the story Moodey tells about the Middle East. The undeniable misdeeds of Arab and Muslim leaders in the Middle East are selectively ignored.

....

Moodey [has] directed all his ire at Israel and offered hardly a word of criticism toward Hamas, which has turned the Gaza Strip into an open-air gulag for its inhabitants – its Christians especially – who recently went public with complaints of forced conversions.....

No reasonable commentator can ignore the role Hamas has played in making the lives of the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip miserable and its cynical use of the suffering it has caused as a tool to lambaste Israel. No reasonable commentator would fail to hold Hamas to account for the rockets it launched, or allowed to be launched into Israel.

Moodey does.

....Moodey insists that Israel withdraw its citizens from the West Bank, but what assurances can he give that such withdrawals will lead to peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors?...."

 Here is Moodey defending the execrable anti-Israel stunt at St James's Church Piccadilly a few years ago.

And here he is talking enthusiastically and sickeningly at SOAS when a member of an anti-Zionist, anti-Israel panel  in 2013 foreshadowing the establishment of an anti-Israel grassroots campaign in the churches to, as another speaker explained to applause from the audience, oppose and defeat "the Zionist Project". (Richard Millett video):

Richard Millett ably challenged Moodey here

Other examples of Moodey's longstanding jaundiced attitude towards Israel can be seen here and here and  here and here

He appears to be more interested in slamming Israel for supposed offences against Christians than he is in condemning the real crimes of Muslim regimes against them.  He clearly has scant sympathy for the scriptural underpinnings of the Jewish People's attachment to Eretz Israel.  He dismisses the Religious strand within the Zionist movement and approvingly cites instead a minority of ratbag "Liberal Jewish" anti-Zionists. And as we see on this Christian website he keeps up a relentless round of anti-Israel propaganda.

As this photo of him shows (yes, let's see it again), Moodey is supportive of such anti-Israel gimmicks as the 'checkpoint' exhibit at London's Hinde Street Methodist Church.

That's the display which attracted such antisemitic comments in its visitor's book as "IDF soldiers are the scum of the earth. They are disgusting filth and animals and need to be burned alive" (see here)

More here

And see Jonathan Hoffman's observations here.

Last month, too, Moodey paid a visit to Salisbury, Wiltshire, to address the group Sarum Concern for Israel Palestine (SCIP).  A one-sided Methodist group, it seems  One of the fruits of that squalid initiative launched at SOAS, perhaps?

That Moodey's propaganda ("Israel/Palestine: Where's the Hope?") fell on receptive ears is indicated by the title of an ensuing report entitled "Charity chief brings message of Palestinian hope to Salisbury".

 It  summarise Moodey's talk.  And, what d'you know? Right away his cited authority is no less an Israel-basher than Avi Shlaim.  Not much in the way of objectivity here, then.  No presentation of Israel's case.  Just the drip, drip, drip of anti-Israel agitprop.

"Can there be hope for Palestinians, he asked, when the state of Israel controls 90% of historic Palestine including most of the Palestinian West Bank, and with a decades-long failure to reach agreement on borders between Israel and a Palestinian state? Quoting the British/Israeli historian Professor Avi Schlaim [sic] he said that negotiations had been like trying to decide how to divide a pizza while one side had already gobbled most of it up.

Jeremy's answer is an unequivocal 'yes'. Even in Gaza, with 1.8 million inhabitants the most densely populated area in the world and still devastated following Israel's 2014 onslaught, there is cause for hope today. Jeremy cited projects initiated by the tiny 1,200 strong Christian community and part funded by Embrace. These include therapy for children traumatised by war, vocational training for young people and a highly regarded health clinic used overwhelmingly by Muslim women and staffed by Christians and Muslims. In Jerusalem the YMCA rehabilitates Palestinian children who have emerged brutalised from Israeli military detention."

 It goes on:

"In the immediate future 2017 marks a number of significant anniversaries - a decade since the start of the Gaza blockade, 50 years since the Israeli occupation, 70 years since the UN Partition Plan, and 100 years since the Balfour Declaration - which it is hoped will increase public awareness of the Palestinian cause and strengthen demands for governments around the world to shift their Israel/Palestine policy. Attitudes are already changing. A Pew Research Center study published earlier this year found that the percentage of 'millennials' - children born after 1980 - in the US who sympathised with the Palestinians had increased to 27% from just 9% in 2006. Those who sympathised with Israel fell from 51% to 43%."

 The inevitable nod to BDS, which Moodey favours:

"In the UK, according to Jeremy, demands will focus on the recognition of a Palestinian state, a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, an end to the Gaza blockade and support of divestment from companies profiting from the occupation."

 Finally, an ominous hint of a one state solution, perhaps?:

"And the long-term hope? That Israelis and Palestinians will one day live in peace and recognise that no empire lasts for ever - not least in Palestine where, as Jeremy points out, no fewer than 26 empires have come and gone since 2000 BC."

Yes, 2017 should prove to be a bumper year for anti-Israel agitprop.  The excitement over at the so-called Balfour Project is almost palpable. 



Meanwhile, will Sizer and Moodey be attending this  Friday and weekend's anti-Israel fest sponsored by Lichfield Cathedral, which I blogged about a few days ago?

Super blogger David Collier has vowed to be there.  It will be most interesting to read his take on matters.

Update: here is David's gut reaction.  The cathedral should be deeply ashamed.

 Further update: What's the vicar up to here?!  Perhaps I'd better tell Mostafa about Al Beeb's many links to CAABU and the anti-Israel stance of its reporter Keith Kyle dating back to the 1960s.  But somehow I don't think that's what Mostafa wants to hear...

Pieces of Hate: "The Palestinian cause is ... for the exploited & oppressed masses in our era"

In London last week, a mob of abusive Palestine Solidarity Campaign activists taunt an unexpected showing of pro-Israelis, standing in dignified fashion in silent counter-protest while the PSCniks raise fists in the air, rasp familiar chants, sound a silly shrill trill, and even indulge in a taunting improvised rhyme that includes da Joo word.

 The doughty David Collier gives the context (and another video) here

And in Toronto on Al Quds Day teacher Nadia Shoufani reminds her fellow Israel-haters of another Israel-hater's words ("... We are here to urge you all to believe ... that the Palestinian cause is not a cause for Palestinians only but it's a cause for every revolutionary whereever he [sic] is, a cause for the exploited and oppressed masses in our era ...") before launching into a full-scale rant against the Zionist Entity.

There's a very able refutation here of her damaging nonsense

(Hat tip: Vlad Tepes blog)


Meanwhile, an old friend of ours, Jeremy Moodey, CEO of Engage the Middle East, surfaced in the correspondence columns of the Church of England newspaper (12 May) to argue against its behind-a-paywall editorial of the previous week.  (Hat tip: reader P)

Notice that Moodey has the spiteful audacity to consider Israel a "rogue" state.  He implicitly favours an end to Jewish statehood.

Shame, shame, shame on him.

On social media, another old friend of ours, Stephen Sizer, likes the dissembling Israel-bash, and incorrigible antisemite and 9/11 troofer Tony Gratrex (founder of Reading PSC)  seems equally pleased, sharing the article.

 In defiance, I think we should give this fine fellow with the magnificent moustache a twirl:

Moodey News: "Such are the wages of Christian triumphalism and anti-Judaism"

Having an interest in Jewish-Christian relations, I note for the benefit of like-minded readers a current article by the Christian scholar Dexter Van Zile regarding the views of the CEO of the British NGO Embrace the Middle East, Mr Jeremy Moodey, who's been mentioned by me from time to time; for instance here

Dexter Van Zile's analytical piece pays due tribute to the NGO's laudable aims, but pulls no punches in questioning Mr Moodey's stance towards Israel. 

It concludes:

"Moodey's summary judgment of Israel fails to take into account a number of factors such as Israel's efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the past few decades, the failure of Palestinians to negotiate in good faith, and the disastrous consequences of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005. It also fails to take into account ongoing anti-Semitic incitement in Palestinian society. 

Israel is not perfect. But by way of comparison, Israel treats its enemies, minorities and dissidents with greater humanity than any other country or political movement in the Middle East. Israel has a vibrant civil society and human rights community (whose activists show more concern for Palestinian welfare than Palestinian leaders do). Israel maintains these institutions despite having been under attack almost continuously since its founding in 1948. This is due largely to Israel's commitment to Jewish principles that Moodey incessantly uses to indict Israel. 

Moodey's merciless failure to acknowledge Israel's efforts to achieve peace, coupled with his unwillingness to confront the misdeeds of his adversaries is indicative of more than a troubling double-standard. His polemics suggest that he views Israel's enemies, who are intent on destroying Israel, as an instrument of God's wrath against the Christ-denying Jews of Israel and therefore unworthy of condemnation.

Alleged obduracy on the part of Jews has been used to justify violence and hostility toward the Jewish people for centuries and sadly such arguments survive even today when we have the leader of a Christian charity in enlightened Britain no less, making similar arguments that give theological aid and comfort to enemies of the Jewish state in the Middle East.

Such are the wages of Christian triumphalism and anti-Judaism."

Read all of Dexter Van Zile's article here

Meanwhile:

See here and here

Incidentally, Mr Moodey is one of the 118 Facebook friends (they include such luminaries of the anti-Israel movement as Jenny Tonge and Ben White, and the now vanished Stephen Sizer) of the funny fella who calls himself Harriet and spends his time writing strange stuff about Zionists (and belittling Dexter Van Zile) in obscure corners of the internet. 

Mr Moodey  may wish to reconsider his Facebook friendship with "Harriet"; look at the company "Harriet" keeps:

And there's plenty more where that came from.

What did British celebrity David Baddiel write only last month about men who indulge in conspiracy theories?

Ah, yes!:

"Conspiracy theory ... is how idiots get to feel like intellectuals.... And ... it creates a way into something else that’s becoming increasingly popular these days: antisemitism....

Why do so many conspiracy theories boil down to: it’s the Jews wot done it? ...

Those who have always felt that Jews were powerful, controlling and out to destroy the world can now point in the direction of the Middle East and say: there you are.

But for the conspiracy theorists, even the most appalling political and military machinations of Binyamin Netanyahu and the Israel Defence Forces – of Israel itself – are far less important than the creation of what David Aaronovitch, in Voodoo Histories, describes as a new kind of super-Jew: the Zionist. This is not, for the conspiracy theorist, the straightforward hate figure of the left. Rather, it is a character, or more importantly a group, to which all western governments are secretly in hock: unbelievably rich and powerful, and dedicated unswervingly to its own project, which is nothing less than the complete control of the world..."

 Better take up another hobby at your Place, Harriet!

A Sizer Doesn't Change Its Spots

A friend said to me the other day:

"I suppose Stephen Sizer hasn't had much to say about the current Gaza business as you haven't blogged about him for a while ..."

Guffaw.

Ah, as if the vicar would waste an opportunity to demonise Israel or portray it in a bad light!

But in addition to posting frenetically against Israel on social media as is his custom our old mate has been putting the finishing touches to his latest tome:

Among the Facebook followers eager to oblige is another old friend of ours:

Don't Call Them Persecuted: Anti-Zionist Christians & Selective Blindness

"I met Mori in the basement of a Lutheran church in Berlin’s Zehlendorf district. A 28-year-old refugee who once ran a small business in Iran, he converted to Christianity five years ago and spoke to me on condition that I use only his first name in order to protect his identity. In 2011, delayed on the way to a secret Bible study session, he narrowly escaped when Revolutionary Guards raided his underground Evangelical church. He watched as his friends disappeared into Iran’s prison system; Mori suspects they’ve been killed."

So begins a recent article in the New York Times by Liana Aghajanian  regarding the plight of Christians in Iran.

'When you’re Christian in Iran, you can’t speak. You have to keep quiet and not talk about the truth that you know and that you believe in,” he told me. “There is no such thing as a comfortable life in Iran."

.... Persecution is well-documented. In 2004, Hamid Pourmand, the lay leader of Jama’at-e Rabbani, the Iranian branch of the evangelical Assemblies of God, was arrested with more than 80 other members, charged with apostasy and imprisoned for years before his release. A report last year by Ahmed Shaheed, a United Nations special rapporteur, talks of Christians being “prosecuted on vaguely worded national security crimes for exercising their beliefs,” with more than 300 having been arrested since 2010.

Mori was one of the lucky ones. In 2011, he got a fake passport, paid 7,000 euros to a smuggler and joined the rising flow of refugees...."

Seldom if ever do the zealous opponents of Israel and of Christian Zionism, the ones who are more than happy to appear on the Iranian regime's satellite propaganda channel Press TV in order to badmouth Israel, draw attention in their blogs and tweets to the terrible state of affairs confronting Iran's Christians, much less condemn it.

Some of them occasionally focus on Saudi Arabia (where of course there are no churches) for its human rights abuses, but turn a blind eye to the horrors perpetrated the Iranian regime.  This double standard is hardly coincidental, of course: Saudi Arabia is, for all its faults, an ally of the United States and, behind the scenes, expediently of Israel.  Iran, of course, is the opposite.

Ever wondered, indeed, why some Christians, so eager to condemn Israel and excoriate Christian Zionism, seem so stay more or less shtum regarding the terrible plight of their co-religionists not only in Iran but in the Middle East generally at the hands of the common enemy of both Christians and Jews, despite all that has been written by people such as Egyptian-born Christian scholar Raymond Ibrahim and in the articles carried by the Assyrian International News Agency regarding the Islamic war on Christians in the Middle East?

Well, an article by one of Stephen Sizer's chums, Jeremy Moodey, CEO of Engage the Middle East and like Sizer a seemingly implacable foe of Israel and of Christian Zionism, holds a clue:

"Israeli officials are said to be upset that the Pope will only celebrate public masses in Bethlehem and Amman, and not in Jerusalem, although this may have something to do with the fact that when Pope Benedict celebrated mass in the Holy City in 2009, the event was poorly attended, with many worshippers reportedly turned away by the Israeli security authorities. In its publicity about the visit, the Vatican has referred for the first time to the State of Palestine, a status not recognised by Israel. Characteristically, a key focus of the Pope’s visit will be refugees: he will meet with Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Jordan and also spend time with children from three Palestinian refugee camps near Bethlehem. Strikingly, the three Palestinian camps involved (Dheisheh, Aida and Beit Jibrin) are predominantly Muslim. The Pope’s concern for the underprivileged of all faiths underlines a simple fact about the Middle East that is often overlooked in the raw emotion of the ‘persecuted Christians’ narrative: which is that many more Muslims than Christians suffer from the political turmoil and violence of the Middle East, yet they receive a fraction of the press coverage in the West...." [Emphasis added here and below]

Moodey (whose article has been commended by Sizer on social media) goes on to observe that

"The Pope would do well to heed the plea from his own church leaders in the Holy Land to recognise that persecution and suffering go much wider than just Christians"

and quotes in support of this contention a press release issued by those functionaries last month: 

“the repetition of the word ‘persecution’… usually referring only to what Christians suffer at the hands of criminals claiming to be Muslims, plays into the hands of extremists”...

I wonder what the Christians of Silence (to paraphrase the title of a famous book by Elie Wiesel concerning the trapped and persecuted Jews of Soviet Russia during the refusenik era) would say about that.