Condemnation for Church of Scotland Balfour 100 report

Board of Deputies President Jonathan Arkush has strongly criticised the Church of Scotland’s Balfour 100 report which marks the centenary of the Balfour Declaration.

Jonathan said: “In this latest report to its Assembly, the Church of Scotland has retreated in part from the discredited theology deployed in its earlier attempts to address the Middle East conflict, but the report again betrays the Church’s lack of balance and unconcealed hostility towards Israel.

“The report encourages the Church to question the very existence of the world’s only Jewish State. With good reason, the global consensus is in favour of a two state solution, yet the report states that the Church should ‘reconsider its support’. Furthermore, in a 21 page report, thousands of Palestinian terror attacks and their Israeli victims are reduced to just two lines. The document is woefully inadequate in failing to grasp basic realities and historical truth.

“It hardly even pretends to address the arguments in support of Israel’s position or the facts that lie behind it.  It shamefully allies the church to the divisive BDS movement.  We condemn the bigotry which runs through this deeply flawed document.

“Instead of adopting the narrative of rejection and destruction of bridge-building, the Church of Scotland should focus on supporting peace-building efforts.  We call on the Church of Scotland, and all our faith partners in Britain, to join us in exporting peace rather than importing the conflict.”