The BBC reports that The Diocese of Guildford is investigating Stephen Sizer’s comments suggesting Israel was behind 9/11, asking for proof that Israel wasn’t. The Church of England has already condemned Sizer’s comments as “unacceptable” and “a matter of deep sorrow and shame”.
The irony is that Sizer implied the same thing in a book in 2004, Christian Zionism, on page 251, footnote 170.
He was not challenged by his church; instead many Anglican vicars and scholars praised his book. Hopefully this time it will be different.
But there is another angle which the Bishop of Guildford may wish to investigate.
The Times’ editorial today cautions about the role of Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq, noting atrocities carried out by Iran’s Shia proxies, naming the Hezbollah Brigades as one such force.
Newsweek reports:
Iran is supporting many different militias [in Iraq]. Some of the biggest and most prominent are the Badr Organization, Asai’b Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Kata’ib Hezbollah and various Sadrist elements. They are all Shiite. Certain militias such as the Badr Organization and AAH appear to be taking direct orders from Tehran. The Sadrists have had tensions with Iran before, so they may not be the most reliable of the militias.
Note the banner of Iran’s deceased spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini:
Kataib Hezbollah aka the Hezbollah Brigades were designated a terror group by the US State Department:
Kata’ib Hizballah is a radical Shia Islamist group with an anti-Western establishment and jihadist ideology that has conducted attacks against Iraqi, U.S, and Coalition targets in Iraq. Kata’ib Hizballah has ideological ties to Lebanese Hizballah and gained notoriety in 2007 with attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces designed to undermine the establishment of a democratic, viable Iraqi state. The organization has been responsible for numerous violent terrorist attacks since 2007, including improvised explosive device bombings, rocket propelled grenade attacks, and sniper operations. Kata’ib Hizballah also targeted the International Zone in Baghdad in a November 29, 2008 rocket attack that killed two UN workers. In addition, KH has threatened the lives of Iraqi politicians and civilians that support the legitimate political process in Iraq.
According to the Middle East Forum and Arab Digest, Al Etejah is a propaganda channel run by the Hezbollah Brigades. Here, Al Etejah TV publishes an interview with the commander of the Hezbollah Brigades. Al Etejah’s Youtube channel is subscribed to one channel: the Lebanese Hezbollah propaganda channel Al Manar TV.
One of his shows is entitled “Escaping Auschwitz”, with a guest called Duncan MacPherson:
At 38:50, we hear this exchange:
Macpherson: I’ve had a rabbi say to me, it little behooves Christians to criticise us, and of course one of the reasons for having the Holocaust Museum in Yad Vashem – on, as I understand it, stolen Christian Palestinian land – rather than having it in Germany where it ought to be, or in Poland, is to bring before people’s minds a foundational myth for the State of Israel… [Sizer “mmmms” in agreement] …along with Masada and the Dead Sea Scrolls, this is the reason why there has to be a Jewish state.
[…]
Sizer: But Israel can get away with it because they trade on the Holocaust… past suffering, yes.
MacPherson: Because they’re able to trade on the horrors perpetrated against them. When I say against “them”, against Jews, but most of the people who suffered in the concentration camps weren’t Zionists. [Sizer: “No”] Most of them were religious non-Zionists or Marxists. [Sizer: “Mmmmm”]
Sizer: Typically on pilgrimages, they will visit Yad Vashem on the first day, or very early on in the pilgrimage, and that sets the tone for the week.
MacPherson: I actually do take groups to Yad Vashem or to the Museum of the Holocaust on Mount Zion, because part of understanding the reality of present day Israel-Palestine is to understand what the Israelis believe about themselves. That’s an important dimension. [Sizer: “It is. It is.”]
Sizer has presented many other episodes of his “Enlightenment” show on this channel.
This is not Sizer’s first experience doing PR for Iran’s Shia network.
Sizer has previously toured South Lebanon as a guest of the Lebanese Hezbollah’s TV network Al Manar TV. Here he met with Sheikh Kaouk, the commander of Hezbollah’s armed forces:
Last year he made a tourism video for Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator who has overseen the deaths of 200,000 of his own people, in a civil war in which Assad has bombed his and gassed own people repeatedly – not that this deterred Sizer.
Sizer has worked before with the Iranian regime. As you can see in this document, he worked with Khomeini’s daughter Zahra Mostafavi to translate his book Christian Zionism into Farsi.
Here they are exchanging gifts:
The Iranian regime, remember, jails pastors distributing New Testaments, whilst sponsoring a translation of Sizer’s book, which shows the cross locked in by a giant Star of David on its cover.
Last year, Sizer spoke at an antisemitic conference in Iran, which included Holocaust deniers as speakers.
This ought to trouble the Church of England, every bit as much as his 9/11 conspiracy theory.
