The Church of England lies at the heart of our democracy, with 26 of its bishops sitting in the House of Lords. But with such privilege comes responsibility.

The ethnic cleansing of Palestine has been going on for over 100 years, and Britain is directly responsible, above all from 1920 to 1939, and in recent times when it gave Israel the green light to bomb Gaza back into the stone age.
 

The Church of England shares responsibility for all this. For a brief account of Britain’s sins of commission and omission and cynical treatment of the Palestinians, CLICK HERE.

So, what price the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who championed the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised? The Church has opted to walk by on the other side and, at times, blame the colonised Palestinians for their misfortune.

 

Introducing the Lambeth Witness Group (LWG)

​The Church’s obvious bias towards Israel gave birth to the Lambeth Witness Group (LWG), a subsection of CAMPAIN. It comprises people of all religions and none. We want the Established Church to lead Britain’s call for repentance and to radically change its stance on Israel/Palestine.

We have taken many actions, starting in April 2023 with an Open Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and York, signed by 1,350 people.

We then challenged Archbishop Welby and his bishops to follow the late Desmond Tutu, the South African church and many human rights organisation, and call out Israel’s apartheid. We surveyed 102 bishops as to their views on this topic.

In February we leafleted outside the General Synod re the Archbishop’s refusal to meet Bethlehem pastor Dr Munther Isaac whose Christmas sermon Christ under the Rubble had gone viral.

We had letters published in Church Times, and published many articles discussing the issues at stake. We held a series of vigils and marches outside the Anglican HQ, Church House, Westminster Abbey and Lambeth Palace. We gave impassioned speeches and publicised powerful testimonies. We twice appeared on the Not the Andrew Marr Show, notably on 4th February.

Rev Stephen Sizer published an in-depth critique of Anglican complicity in the Gazan genocide.

Our latest initiative has been to host a letter to Justin Welby from 630 Jewish people, including many distinguished figures. They ask the Archbishop to acknowledge, and engage with, representatives of Israel-critical Jews, rather than simply dealing with supposedly official voices that unreservedly back Israel. 

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What have we achieved so far?​

We can point to three things:

1. On Feb 27 Archbishop Welby made a gracious apology for his snub to Pastor Munther Isaac.

2. On March 21 he made a bold statement about the risk of famine in Gaza, and unambiguously blamed the situation on Israel’s prosecution of the War. Unlike previous statements, he did not mention Hamas, nor hold it primarily responsible for the conflict. Neither did he repeat that Israel had a superior right to defend itself. No, he advocated an urgent ceasefire, and for all parties to facilitate the unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid.

3. On August 2nd, he issued his most strongly worded statement, thoroughly endorsing the International Court of Justice’s finding that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory was illegal and should be ended forthwith. He went on to say that to resist a world where actions such as torture, hostage-taking and indiscriminate violence become the norm, we must apply the law without fear or favour in all circumstances.
 

We can’t categorically claim that these three things are down to the LWG but we have no doubt that our constant pressure over 16 months helped bring about the change! Welby’s endorsement of international law is an absolute game-changer – and was one of our requests.

 

Further activities planned - where you fit in

Archbishop Welby has resigned (for other reasons), but we shall follow up on his change of direction with his successors. There is much that they can do, for example:

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1. issue statements on other advisory opinions from the ICJ – we think this could change the political climate at the heart of government.
    

2. argue for the immediate cessation of British arms sales to Israel, and logistical support for the Israeli war effort.
    

3. condemn the targeted assassinations that Israel is dangerously using to escalate the conflict with Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. The worst case, which our government has failed to condemn, is that of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ chief negotiator. Just think of it: would HMG have been justified in assassinating Jerry Adams and Martin McGuinness before the Good Friday Agreement?
    

4. push back hard against the so-called cancel culture, notably smearing as antisemitic those who dare criticise Israel.

We shall also organise a grass-roots campaign via deanery and diocesan synods.

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Where possible we shall reach out to local Christian communities. We shall encourage other religious groups and denominations to join the effort.

Sharen Green coordinates the group, so if you can help, please drop a line to sharengreen3@gmail.com. She can sign you up to our newsletters, and our highly active WhatsApp group – we’ll need your mobile phone number for this.