Jonathan Arkush, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the national representative body of the UK Jewish community, has praised an article on the subject of antisemitism written by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Jonathan said: “Archbishop Welby’s intervention is powerful and timely. Millennia of theological antisemitism against Jews – including the canard that Jews killed Jesus – permeate European thought. We now see that idea being imported into the Israel-Palestine debate, where you have such incidents as anti-Israel Christians appropriating Jesus as a Palestinian and saying that Israel (or the collective Jew) is crucifying Jesus anew. Such language is inflammatory and untrue. It’s not for nothing that antisemitism is called ‘the longest hatred’ and perpetuating themes like killing God will only perpetuate it further. We need to fight back against this new antisemitism. The Archbishop of Canterbury’s leadership is a very helpful place to start.”