Open Letter to Rev Stephen Sizer
In this open letter a great friend of AFI, Joy Wolfe, questions Rev Stephen Sizer and others who supported the Church of England synod resolution for disinvestment from companies such as Caterpillar. Rev Sizer is Vice-Chairman of Sabeel and a prominent spokesman for the disinvestment campaign.
For the attention of Rev Stephen Sizer, Keith Malcouronne and Canon Peter Bruinvels
Dear Rev Sizer
I want to thank you for the remarkable job you and some of your colleagues have done this week in exposing the anti-Zionist viewpoint, not only of yourselves, but of many of your fellow churchmen, particularly it would seem in the Guildford diocese.
What is that has driven a minister from Virginia Water to devote so much time and energy to your hatred of a country that has one of the best human rights records in the world? Do your parishioners condone and agree with your preaching of hatred, or do they sometimes wonder why you, and, indeed, the Synod, devote so much time to attacking the tiny Jewish state? Why is this issue of disinvestment constantly on the Synod’s agenda, when there are far worse examples of what you consider to be unacceptable behaviour around the world that do not cause you to lose a moment’s sleep? And why do you travel the world spreading anti-Israel views?
The sad thing is that although you proclaim loud and clear that you are not antisemitic, and that those in the church who keep citing what they perceive as the unacceptable acts of the state of Israel, because it is the Jewish state, and the Jewish state alone that attracts your venom, I find it hard to find any other excuse for your behaviour.
The problem is with disinvestment or boycotts is they are never thought through. Caterpillar equipment is currently being used to build the much needed housing and infrastructure for the Palestinians, and was indeed used to pull down the houses of the ethnically cleansed Jewish population in Gaza, at the request of the Palestinians. Indeed I would hazard a guess that the pictures used in the Newsnight programme to illustrate bulldozing were actually doing just that.
I have another question for you Rev. Sizer. Are you consistent in your desire to hit out at Israel?
Do you, for example, use a mobile phone, a computer, an answering machine? Do you or any of your parishioners have need of any of the life-saving medical technology or drugs that Israel has given to the world.
If so may I suggest you throw away that mobile phone and dump your computer and ansafone, because the chances are the technology used in them originated in the country you hate so much.
The best thing about this open attack on Israel is that it has brought out so many of your fellow Anglicans to condemn you and the Synod, and in particular the Archbishop, for supporting this ill-timed call to divest.
What is perhaps most distasteful of all has been the scramble by some people who supported this illogical and discriminatory vote to try to tell us it does not mean what it says. In its own words the SYNOD voted “to disinvest from companies profiting from illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc, until they change their policies”.
Try as I will, I can find no way to misinterpret such clear and concise wording. It comes a surprise that people with a holy calling should try to fudge such an unmistakeable policy. Whether “advisory” or not, the people who voted in favour were making a very clear statement that they are anti-Zionist at best.
As for your excuse that the disinvestment call is to respond to your Christian brethren in the Middle East, in the light of a heartbreaking appeal I received this week for prayer and support for a Christian group in Gaza who are being threatened by Hamas and masked terrorists to close down their Bible Reading Circle, will you be praying for them in your church this Sunday Rev. Sizer? Or will you be too busy preaching your blind hatred based on false premises and misinformation. In case you can spare a moment to concentrate on what should be a much more important aspect of humanity than disinvestment, I reprint below that cry for help.
This is one thing, however warped your thinking might be, you can’t blame Israel for. Under Israeli jurisdiction Christians and their holy places are properly protected. Can you say the same now for those who have fallen under Palestinian protection? Clearly not. Are Christian, and indeed Jewish holy sites safe in Palestinian hands? Of course they are not.
They certainly weren’t before what you call Israeli occupation, and they certainly aren’t now. Within hours of Jacob’s tomb being in Palestinian hands it was desecrated and torched. The same went for former Israeli synagogues in Gaza.
If you have read as far as this I hope you will now read the Christian plea for your prayers. Many Jews are praying for them.
Let’s hope you can find a moment to do the same.
Joy Wolfe
(Enclosed: A plea for prayers for Christains facing theats in Gaza, reported by AFI here.)
