{"id":549089,"date":"2026-07-19T14:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/549089\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T14:12:09","slug":"we-hear-your-voices-inside-the-church-of-englands-debate-over-palestine-anglicanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/549089\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We hear your voices\u2019: inside the Church of England\u2019s debate over Palestine | Anglicanism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Father Fadi Diab, a prominent Palestinian Anglican priest from Ramallah, watched quietly as the Church of England debated whether to formally hear a document describing Israel<\/a> as a \u201ccolonial enterprise\u201d that had inflicted a \u201cgenocidal war on Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n

The motion passed overwhelmingly among bishops, clergy and laity \u2013 all three houses of the General Synod \u2013 last week.<\/p>\n

Diab, who helped write the document at the centre of the debate, described the moment as \u201csurreal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very moving and very emotional,\u201d he said. \u201cI think members of synod wanted to say: \u2018We hear your voices, we feel your pain, and we want to stand with you in your struggle.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

For many Palestinian Christians, the vote marked a significant shift in the Church of England\u2019s engagement with their community. But the moment came amid warnings from Jewish leaders that the language at the heart of the report risked straining decades of Christian-Jewish dialogue.<\/p>\n

The motion centred on Kairos Palestine<\/a> II (A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide), a report published last year by Palestinian Christian leaders drawn from across denominations calling for an urgent global Christian response to the war in Gaza and Israel\u2019s occupation of the West Bank. Co-written by Diab, it describes Israel\u2019s actions using terms including genocide, apartheid and settler colonialism.<\/p>\n

Originally drafted to ask synod to \u201creceive\u201d the report, the motion was amended during the debate so members instead agreed to \u201chear\u201d it.<\/p>\n

Father Fadi Diab, who helped write the Kairos Palestine II document, leading prayer at Saint Andrew\u2019s episcopal church in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah. Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Speaking during the debate, Sarah Mullally, the archbishop of Canterbury, acknowledged concerns raised by Jewish organisations and explained that hearing Palestinian Christians\u2019 experiences did not mean endorsing every aspect of the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does mean that we listen with compassion, and stand in solidarity with them amidst the many injustices they face,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Before the debate, the Board of Deputies of British Jews urged synod to reject the report, and released its own briefing that said it \u201cdirectly undermines the struggle against antisemitism\u201d, and the UK\u2019s chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, and the co-chairs of Progressive Judaism<\/a> said it risked harming Christian-Jewish relations.<\/p>\n

Jewish leaders argued the report went beyond criticising the Israeli government and its military campaign in Gaza<\/a>, and instead questioned Zionism and what they described as core elements of Jewish history, including longstanding Jewish connection to the land.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, a co-chair of Progressive Judaism, said she understood the Church of England must grapple with the experiences of Palestinian Christians who do not feel their voices are being heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise that as well, and we absolutely do not want to play any part in stopping those voices from being heard,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we\u2019d be very strong is that this is not the vehicle by which to do that because of the entrenchment of antisemitic tropes within it [the document], and within the nature of wiping out the experiences of what it means for Jews and Israelis to be in relationship with the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rabbi Charley Baginsky, of Liberal Judaism, said there was an \u2018entrenchment of antisemitic tropes\u2019 in the document. Photograph: Gary Calton\/The Observer<\/p>\n

Baginsky did, however, welcome the continued engagement by the church on the matter, adding: \u201cAs always, the challenge for all of us in faith relationships is: how do we stay in the room and hear things that are difficult? How do we make sure the parameters around conversation are ones that are open to conversations?<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the problem with the language in Kairos II is that it closes down conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Georgina Bye, a co-director of the Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ), the oldest interfaith charity in the UK, said that, while she understands the document comes from a place of trauma and distress, she was concerned by the \u201clack of nuance\u201d with some of terms used, and said that \u201cthe document disparages dialogue\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s a balancing act,\u201d Bye added. \u201cWe want to uplift and hear the voices of Palestinian Christians, amplify their distress and stand with them, while also being aware of the context we\u2019re living in here in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bye said she was grateful that the amendments changed \u201creceive\u201d to \u201chear\u201d, and that a number of people stood up during the debate and asked to look at the issue more holistically.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, Kairos II is presenting a perspective,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we really want to understand and grapple with something as complex as what\u2019s going on in the Middle East, we have to expose ourselves to lots of different perspectives and narratives so we can better understand how we move forward and build peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Sewell, the Residentiary Canon of St George\u2019s Cathedral in Jerusalem, who functions as a link between the church in England and the Anglican community in Palestine, described the report as \u201ca cry for help from our brothers and sisters in Palestine and Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n

He insisted the Church of England had a duty to directly hear the voice of the suffering church in Palestine, Israel and the wider region.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask: \u2018Why are you raising these painful issues which are going to cause so much distress?\u2019 Because our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Jerusalem and across different denominations are pleading with the wider church to engage with them,\u201d Sewell said.<\/p>\n

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, at a ceremonial tree planting in the West Bank. Photograph: Andrea Krogmann\/Andrea Krogmann\/Lambeth Palace<\/p>\n

The debate marked one of Mullally\u2019s first significant interventions as leader of the church. The motion was first introduced several years earlier and, according to Sewell, there had been growing frustration over repeated delays before it reached the synod floor.<\/p>\n

Weeks earlier, Mullally had visited Diab\u2019s congregation in Birzeit, in the occupied West Bank. Sewell said the Palestinian Christian community had been \u201cdelighted\u201d by her visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been easy for her to say: \u2018Actually, the time\u2019s not quite right, so we won\u2019t come.\u2019 But I was deeply encouraged that she was not put off by the circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the visit during the synod debate, Mullally said she had seen settlements expanding \u201cat unprecedented rates\u201d, and that Palestine, including Christian villages such as Taybeh, was \u201con the brink of disappearing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgainst this desperate backdrop we are called to a new and active solidarity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Diab said Kairos II had been born out of \u201cthe existential threats facing the Christian community\u201d caused by the war in Gaza and decades of military occupation. He described conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories as the worst they had ever been.<\/p>\n

He defended the language in the report, including the terms genocide and apartheid, saying they reflected the findings of human rights organisations. \u201cThe reality is that the state of Israel continues to confiscate occupied Palestinian land and build settlements on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not inventing words. We are describing what is happening on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diab urged more people to visit the occupied territories. \u201cMany simply do not know what is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know many people whose views changed after visiting because once you experience crossing checkpoints, once you experience humiliation, you begin to understand what it means to live under military occupation for nearly 60 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why Palestinian theologians produced this document: to say we cannot remain silent any longer, and that the world needs to hear our cry because the situation is extremely serious.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Father Fadi Diab, a prominent Palestinian Anglican priest from Ramallah, watched quietly as the Church of England debated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-549089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}