Open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury; more Jewish signatories welcome
JVL Introduction
CAMPAIN has coordinated this letter to go to the Archbishop of Canterbury, as we want him – and many others – to understand that there are many Jewish people in the UK – and across the world – who do not back what Israel is doing and do not accept that the horrendous attacks we have seen in Gaza and the West Bank are not being done in our name. We hope that this is of interest and that, if you are of Jewish heritage that you will add your name to the growing number of Jews in this country who support and end to the genocide and to the occupation of Palestine.
We note that Senior Church of England bishops have accused Israel of acting above law in West Bank
and the letter welcomes the Archbishop of Canterbury’s statement in August “welcoming the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Archbishop of Canterbury has urged governments around the world to reverse the “deeply damaging trend” of upholding international law “in a selective manner”. He also said that “the State of Israel has been “denying the Palestinian people dignity, freedom and hope” – and that ending its occupation of Palestinian territory is “a legal and moral necessity”.
This is all very positive and we hope that this letter will contribute to changing the narrative.
LL
This article was originally published by CAMPAIN on Thu 12 Sep 2024. Read the original here.
Open letter from British Jews to Archbishop Welby, September 2024
The letter below is being circulated to gather the signatures of UK Jews, before being delivered to the Archbishop of Canterbury. If you are of Jewish heritage, please do add your signature, scroll to the link at the end of the letter.
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Mother was a Holocaust Survivor
My family has been here since the 19th century and we have faithfully carried out our obligations as loyal British citizens. I am appalled by the brutal military action Israel has carried out on the Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. This aggression cannot be justified and I do not lend my name to the uncritical support given by the BoD to the state of Israel.
I did sign but my name isn’t there so I’m signing it here instead! As some know (I emailed them) I had some weird difficulties signing — the original link given on TwitterX didn’t work and the email on the website was also crazily wrong! A member of JVL committee put me in touch with one of the main organisers who emailed to say he’d put my name and affiliation in manually. Something clearly went wrong with this. But a good initiative. And well worth writing the letter. But I do have reservations about Archbishop Justin.
If you are Jewish and have not already signed this letter, please do so now. And please circulate it to others who may wish to support it. Please let us know if you are having difficulty with the signature process, by writing to [email protected]. Brian Robinson’s signature is gratefully received.
Update to my previous post. I’ve heard from CAMPAIN (they read JVL, but of course they do!). I don’t know why my signature didn’t go previously (I always blame the electrogremlins in these cases) but it’s gone in now. Let’s hope the spirit moves His Grace The Most Reverend the Lord Archbishop to say Hear O Israel … the rest is up to him.
The world is becoming an ever more threatening place due to Israel’s killing of civilians throughout the middle east!