Undisciplined vicar Stephen Sizer gleefully reports:
Asked by The Lord Bishop of Exeter
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel and the work it undertakes to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in non-violent action.” [HL1176]10 July 2012 : Column WA243
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford):
“The British Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) are in regular contact with the British Consulate-General in Jerusalem. The EAPPI provides a useful independent monitoring service in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It issues reports on the situation on the ground in the West Bank, for example, on impending demolitions. It also provides statistics on movement and access through checkpoints around Jerusalem, which help the international community to monitor the impact of restrictions on the lives of ordinary Palestinians.”
The Lord Bishop of Exeter is Michael Langrish. Langrish is a Patron of Friends of Sabeel UK, alongside Manual Hassassian who supports firing rockets into Israel, praises Hezbollah and defends Taleban rule. Another patron of Sabeel UK is Ibrahim Hewitt, who is not a Christian, but who does oppose Holocaust Memorial Day, enthusiastically cites Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, and marches with fellow Islamists.
Langrish was asking this question to bring EAPPI to the attention of Her Majesty’s Government. But he need not have exerted himself in the first place.
For the Lord Bishop must have been greatly comforted by the knowledge that the British Government is reliant upon the EAPPI organisation which voices its disgust at Jewish theology, and maps this onto the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – just like Sabeel does.
Meanwhile, here is the CCJ and the Bishop of Manchester on the EAPPI vote, and the “lobby” opposing EAPPI:
The debate also, however, included at least one reference to a “powerful lobby,” which some Jewish observers interpreted as having anti-Semitic overtones. Bishop McCulloch rejects the suggestion.
“I don’t think I interpreted anything said as anti-Semitic,” he said. “I am pretty certain people would not have intended that to be the case and it should not fairly be emphasized.
Alan A adds
Come now, Joseph. I won’t have you suggesting that the CCJ is a useless timorous body which sees its role as being to stop Jews from making too much fuss about antisemitism.
They do LOTS of important things. Look here, for example.
They’ve planted a tree! Lovely!
