A Briefing from the Board of Deputies of British Jews for Members of the General Synod of the Church of England Regarding the Motion Relating to Kairos Palestine

If this motion is implemented, it will have immediate harmful consequences for British Jews and do potentially lasting harm to Jewish-Christian relations. The Kairos documents, especially Kairos II, spread a toxic narrative about Jews. They do so at a time when antisemitic rhetoric, incitement and violence have surged in Britain following the horrors of 7 October, and in the context of the devastating multi-front war that followed with Iran and its proxies.

We understand the motivations of Church members to express solidarity with Palestinians and to hear their voices in the current devastating circumstances. We recognise the ties of kinship of Christians in England to Palestinian Christians and to the Holy Land, and also that Israel is one of the few countries in the region with a growing Christian population. We also note with profound respect the Anglican Communion’s affirmation of peace-making as a Christian vocation. We condemn extremism and violence whether from Israelis or Palestinians, including violence perpetrated by extremist settlers, and we support all efforts to advance peace and security for both peoples.

Unfortunately, dissemination of the Kairos documents will do more to perpetuate conflict than make peace. Specific distortions and falsehoods in Kairos II are too numerous to be detailed here. However, a central libel of this text – that Zionism is a settler-colonial movement built on “Jewish supremacy” and with genocidal intent¹ – is so false and destructive that the only responsible action is to reject it.

This central claim is not an attack on Israeli government policy or military action but a libel against Jews everywhere. It erases and distorts not only the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Jewish faith and identity and Jewish historical experience both ancient and modern. It is not antisemitic to criticise Israeli government policy or military action. But it is antisemitic to erase and distort Jewish history and identity.

Zionism is a Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the State of Israel and now supports Israel’s existence as the nation state of the Jewish people. Whilst Zionism is diverse, its core tenets are supported by most Jews and align with broad public opinion and international diplomatic and legal consensus.²

The claim that Zionism is a version of European settler-colonialism ignores the historic and unbroken connection of Jews to the land of Israel. Jewish indigeneity to Israel is central to the understanding of much of Jewish faith and history. It is also a central pillar of the Biblical narrative so inextricably linked to Christian faith, and to the story of Jesus who lived and died as a Jew.

Falsely branding Zionism as settler-colonialism also erases the fact that Jews came to live there in modern times not as colonialists but overwhelmingly as refugees fleeing antisemitic persecution in Europe and the Middle East. Those fleeing Europe faced persecution rooted in centuries of hatred perpetuated by Christians.

When Britain stopped Jewish immigration to Palestine in 1939, this closed off the last place of refuge for Jews from the Holocaust. Statelessness was the key condition that enabled the annihilation of two thirds of European Jews. The establishment of Israel, where around half the world’s Jews now live, is the guarantor that those conditions cannot be recreated. The realisation of Palestinian rights will not be achieved by stripping Jews of theirs once more, as Kairos II envisages.

When Israel was founded in 1948, it was shaped by the dominant liberal values of the Zionist movement. Its Declaration of Independence promises: “equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex”. When Israeli decision-makers fall short of these ideals, they contradict Israel’s founding, Zionist values.

Opposition to Jewish self-determination not only dismisses Jewish identity and experience but uniquely excludes the Jewish people from a right held by the UN to be universal. The Jewish claim to national self-determination does not diminish the parallel rights of Palestinians. The possibility of reconciling mutual rights though a two-state solution, supported by both the Church of England and the Board of Deputies, holds a broad international consensus. Kairos II appears to reject it.³

Synod Members might reflect on the threat posed to Jewish-Christian relations, which have advanced positively in recent times. They might consider how Jews will view a decision of the Church to engage with a text that so thoroughly eviscerates the faith, personal history, cultural identity, and lived experience of Jewish families here and around the world. They might further consider the impact of disseminating a document that appears to justify the October 7 massacre⁴, and that spreads hateful attitudes towards Israel and Diaspora Jews, at a time when we see such attitudes leading to murderous violence against Jews here and in other countries.

The Kairos II document directly undermines the struggle against antisemitism, as well as Christian-Jewish dialogue. It attempts to restrict understanding of antisemitism in ways contrary to how it is understood by most Jews around the world.⁵ No less damaging is the call “to boycott dialogue with Zionist voices,” which jeopardises decades of Christian-Jewish relationship building.⁶

In sum we urge the Church not to “receive” but rather to reject the Kairos documents, especially Kairos II and its false and dangerous claims, just as the Church should distance itself from any initiative from either side that perpetuates demonising myths about the other.

We call on the Church to hear, alongside as the voices of Palestinians, the voices of Israelis, and Jews in Britain and around the world, and to amplify voices of peace and reconciliation, taking the lead from the UK government announcement in June of its support for a new International Peace Fund for Israelis and Palestinians.⁷ We stand ready to work with you to advance a deeper understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it connects to the faith and lives of Christians, Muslims and Jews, and to meaningfully advance the cause of peace and security for all. In the words of the late Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, spoken at an interfaith event at Lambeth Palace, “We should not import conflict. We should export peace instead.”