UK Christians shocked by Archbishop’s call for Israeli withdrawal.
by Charles Gardner.
A call by the Archbishop of Canterbury for Israel to end its ‘occupation’ of Palestinian territory has been met with shock by UK Christians supporting the Jewish state.
In welcoming the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Israel’s presence in the so-called West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Justin Welby accuses Israel of systematic discrimination of Palestinians and cites international law to back his case for withdrawal.
But Love Never Fails, an umbrella group representing many pro-Israel Christian groups, said that while they share the prelate’s compassion for the suffering of Palestinian Christians, they could not agree with him that Israel was primarily to blame for their predicament.
“The responsibility for Palestinian suffering lies firmly with those, especially their Islamist rulers, whose policy is violent resistance against any Jewish sovereignty in the land,” they said. “No appeal to international legal opinions or General Assembly resolutions can reverse the eternal covenant promises of the God of Israel (Deuteronomy 4:37-40; Romans 11:28f).”
The only hope for lasting peace is a change of heart, honouring Israel’s God and living alongside them in harmony.
In a statement headlined “If Jesus promised Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem, who are we to divide his land?” LNF added that the ICJ’s opinion was biased, uninformed, naïve, and ultimately unbiblical.
“The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion appears entirely uninformed about the legal recognition of the Jewish people’s indigenous claim throughout the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, unanimously approved in the 1922 British Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations, forerunner of the UN.”
Jordan’s annexation of the West Bank in 1948 was illegal even in the eyes of the Arab League and the ICJ avoided mentioning that Israel’s wars in 1948, 1967 and 1973 were all defensive and that it was only constant terror attacks that forced Israel to build its ‘wall’.
“The Advisory Opinion naively demands that Israel withdraw completely from the strategic hill-country of the ‘West Bank’, as they did from Gaza in 2005. But this would be suicidal for Israel, especially since the horrific pogrom of October 7th, 2023, was celebrated throughout this territory.”
Israel’s right to self-defence and a secure territory was recognised even by the Palestinians in the negotiated Oslo Accords, the statement added. It was an illusion that the granting of unconditional self-determination to the Palestinians would lead to peace. On the contrary, it would inevitably be seen as “one step towards their goal of total eradication” of the Jewish state.
Citing God’s judgment on those who have divided up his land (Joel 3:2), the statement concludes: “We pray that our British nation and church leaders turn away from this path. Let us instead join with many of our Palestinian brothers and sisters who celebrate God’s faithful replanting of his Jewish people back in the land.”
Among those expressing shock over the Archbishop’s call were the Evangelical Sisters of Mary, whose UK branch said: “When Israel and the Jewish people need our support more than ever, and we Christians owe them such a debt of gratitude, let us be faithful to our call to be watchmen on the walls of Zion (Isaiah 62:6) and pray and stand against a statement which is contrary to the truth of God’s Word.”