The banality of Methodist evil — my op-ed in the Jerusalem Post
Readers may have noticed that the UK’s Methodist Church last week launched a boycott of Israel. I have an op-ed on the matter in today’s Jerusalem Post. Click here to read it.
Tags: Israel
July 5th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Very informative article, Robin. This is of extreme concern to British Jews, whose numbers are similar to those of the Methodist Church, (267,000 members, from the Methodist website).
Especially banal is the nonchalant attitude to antisemitism. When ordinary people take this tone we see the truth in Hannah Arendt’s famous words.
July 5th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
‘Later, the point was repeated with one speaker lamenting the position of the Palestinians who have “no one to tell of what they’re going through.”’
Irony has died another death.
I’m reading your book at the moment, Robin, and thoroughly enjoying it.
July 5th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
You should ask the JP to put the following up: “Robin Shepherd blogs at etc.”
July 5th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
The US Presbyterians are on the same track. I don’t know enough about Christian sects to know if they are the same as Methodists, but it looks like their church has found the same way to vent its anti-Semitism.
What is almost - but not quite - amusing about this is that suddenly JStreet has begun to realize who its bedfollows are.
It took me a little while to find that (PC) USA means Presbyterian Church - USA
Then it was fascinating to see that someone from JStreet has suddenly woken up to the fact that if you wish to sup with the devil, you need a long spoon. Someone named Lerner from JStreet had the following to say:
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2010/07/j_street_condemns_pcusa_middle.html
“I want to be very clear about this — this is not meant to be a threat. If this is passed we will not be issuing a directive to our locals that they cannot partner with local Presbyterian churches — but with the passage of this study, the Church will alienate us and as a result our activists will not want to work with you and this will damage completely the possibility of a future relationship.”
Lerner’s rebuke is a substantial setback for the proponents and the defenders of the report because the report itself names J Street as a group that Jews in the U.S. should emulate and follow. J Street, the report states, is a group that “raise[s] the banner that being pro-Israel and being truly Jewish is not tantamount to complicity in the excesses of Israeli policy.”
Lerner told the audience — which included a significant number of pro-Palestinian activists, that the MESC did not consult with J Street before publishing and that she and other activists in the organization were shocked by its tone and recommendations. Lerner read the report soon after it was published to prepare herself for the phone calls that as a J Street official were headed her way.
“I was to be perfectly honest — surprised and saddened and to be very, very honest, sometimes even angered by what I read,” she said.
July 5th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
VIVA Robin Sghepherd, Julie Burchill, Col. Richard Kemp, Andrew Roberts, Frederic Forsyth and Melanie Phillips, and blogger-CSC head Douglad Murray forever! The rest, well not so much…
July 6th, 2010 at 4:12 am
Robin - I think the punchline in your excellent article highlights a very important popint that is often overlooked due to israel’s efforts to maintain a level of humanitarian assistance to its enemeies unequlled by any other nation now or in the past.
You wrote at the end:
“If the Methodist Church is to launch a boycott of Israel, let Israel respond in kind: Ban their officials from entering; deport their missionaries; block their funds; close down their offices; and tax their churches.
If it’s war, it’s war. The aggressor must pay a price”.
Similarly with the Palestinians, there is this sort of one-sided semi-war, where Israel absorbs blows till it finally snaps. Because it never really finishes the job, in Gaza or Lebanon, under international pressure, the world does not recognize that this is a 60 year old war that has never been finished, unlike, say, the 1973 war or the Vietnam War which had a start and and end.
The Methodists seem to think they can dish it out without getting hit back. No doubt there will be the usual cries from the usual suspects - Israel is denying freedom of this that or the other - if israel takes your advice, but I think it is way beyond time that the various meddling NGO’s, churches, “humanitarians” etc, realize, in the words of the movie, that Israel is mad and is not going to take it any more. If they wish to attack Israel they should realize that there will be a price to pay.
One supportive comment to your article, by a blogger, “Methodist preacher”, stated:
I think you ought to read my commentary on your article:
http://methodistpreacher.blogspot.com/2010/07/as-others-see-us.html
Not all British Methodists support the Conference decision. And let me know if you find a Methodist missionary in Israel! Large parts of our Church simply do not want to tell people about Jesus. We have no representation in Israel or Palestine.
In his blog, this “Methodist preacher” states:
Alas Mr Shepherd doesn’t know the sad truth about the British Methodist Church.
Despite speaking with such great authority on the challenges facing the peoples of Israel and Palestine there is no Methodist Church in Israel.. There are no funds to block, no offices to close down, no churches to tax. No wonder our Church is so well informed. We have the luxury of speaking from a position of unrivalled ignorance.
Mr Shepherd would be hard put to find any British Methodist “missionaries” in Israel, Palestine or anywhere else on God’s earth. Methodists don’t tell people about Jesus any more. We just point fingers and parade our bigotry, that’s far easier, especially in a complex situation.
Interesting.