Oppose the Bishop Riah visit
Anglicans for Israel, consisting both of members of the clergy and laity of the Anglican Church has expressed its grave concern at the visit of the controversial Bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El Assal, to several churches in England.
AFI coordinator, Simon McIlwaine said:
“Bishop Riah does not represent the sentiments of most ordinary Christians in the Middle East, who deplore his calls for a boycott of Israel. We are concerned that Bishop Riah seems singularly unwilling to confront the menace of Islamic extremism, which terrorises and hurts so many Christians in the region and is the cause of their flight from places like Bethlehem, instead finding it more convenient to blame the Jews for all the problems of the area. We challenge him to give a true account of his views on suicide terrorism and to respond unequivocally to the disturbing allegations that he has quoted from the Koran to sanctify those who kill themselves in the course of terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians.”
We at AFI consider his apparent adherence to an Islamicised replacement theology, which seeks to disavow God’s promises in the Hebrew Bible and his rejection of the Biblical connection of the Jewish people to the Land and State of Israel to be nothing short of blasphemous.
Bishop Riah has claimed of Palestinian Christians: ‘We are the true Israel… no-one can deny me the right to inherit the promises, and after all the promises were first given to Abraham and Abraham is never spoken of in the Bible as a Jew…He is the father of the faithful.’ We consider that this is not only an unscriptural pronouncement, inasmuch as it seeks to deny the Jewish identity of Jesus and the prophets, but is downright anti-Semitic. We challenge Bishop Riah to say whether or not he rejects the Koran’s claim that Abraham, the Patriarchs, the Prophets and Jesus were in fact Moslems.
We also challenge Bishop Riah, to tell us what steps, if any, he has taken to protect Palestinian gays and lesbians from attack by Fatah, the Palestinian Authority and other Islamicist groups. We challenge Bishop Riah to tell us whether or not he dissociates himself from the legacy of corruption on the part of Arafat and Fatah.
Unlike, we believe, Bishop Riah, Anglicans for Israel care for all those who wish to live in peace, Both Israelis and Palestinians need our love and support. We join with ordinary Anglicans in Israel, in condemning all attempts to boycott or demonise Israel. Reconciliation cannot be built on lies or a refusal to acknowledge Israel’s needs and fears of terrorism.
