Jerusalem Post UK top rabbi takes on Anglican Church by George Conger
BBC Bishop defends Church Israel move and listen (Real Audio – 5 mins) to Bishop of Hulme and Chief Rabbi from the Sunday radio programme (programme features The Right Reverend Stephen Lowe and Rabbi Alan Plancey, who covers Jewish-Christian Relations for the Chief Rabbi’s Cabinet)
New York Times Alan Cowell Divestiture Dispute in Britain Raises Jewish-Christian Tensions
Associated Press Churches Debate Pro-Palestinian Divestment (from the WCC meeting in Brazil)
A lot of the articles are focussing on the tension that has been created. However, there is an important paragraph in Sacks full paper (see 19 February for link) which talks about constructive alternative solutions: “The Church could have chosen, instead of penalizing Israel, to invest in the Palestinian economy. That would have helped the Palestinians. It would have had the support of most Israelis and most Jews. Indeed it is an Australian-born Jew, James Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank, who is supervising the reconstruction of the Palestinian economy on behalf of the Group of Four, and who… Read more »
Also, just a compassionate note for the Synod people and for others. One of the problems is that there are people who are seeking to “divide and conquer” and to inflame hostilities between moderate people. Thus a decision that might normally not be significant can be inflamed into a major diplomatic issue. The same kind of provocation was attempted during the evacuation of Gaza. (Remember the bombings into the airport, including the bomb that failed to explode in the back of the taxi?) Sacks was not joking when he said the Israelites had risked civil war in how they had… Read more »