by: Hind Shraydeh

Finally, on February 29, 2024, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church, Justin Welby, apologized. He publicly admitted his mistake to the Reverend Dr. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in both Bethlehem and Beit Sahour, for refusing to meet the latter in the United Kingdom in February. In a tweet that received over two million views, Welby said that he feels “deeply sorry for the harm, anger and confusion his decision caused. “Beating his fist on his chest, admitting his very great sin, and expressing his aspiration to meet his brother in Christ (Pastor Isaac) and pray with him shortly thereafter. Wisely, Reverend Isaac welcomed the awakening of the Anglican leader’s conscience, greeting the tweet with great warmth.

Welby had said in the British newspaper, The Guardian, that he would not meet the Reverend Dr. Isaac, explaining that if Reverend Isaac shared a single platform with the former president of the British Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn, who is a supporter of the Palestinian cause was, like the Palestinian pastor invited to a pro-Gaza activity invited to him by the Palestinian Ambassador in the United Kingdom, Dr. Hussam Zammit. Welby stated his belief that their meeting (Isaac and Corbyn) might cause problems for the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, under the pretext of fueling anti-Semitism!

Welby’s response came after the uproar caused by the supporters of the Palestinian cause from among the British people. They blamed Welby for his lack of wisdom, his adoption of the Zionist narrative, and his speeches that were not concerned with the continuation of the occupation for more than 75 years. Opponents noted that has not been affected by the killing and destruction that took place in Gaza. It is not the first time that Welby faced such criticism.

Reverend Isaac responded to Welby’s cancelation of their meeting by saying that the “Church of England lacks courage” and noted that it was painful for the Church to express words of concern and sympathy, without doing anything about it. Ignoring the war crimes happening directly on television and reiterating the demand for a ceasefire is a “moral obligation.” Isaac went on to explain that the Church’s statements reflected a readiness to sacrifice the Christian presence in Palestine, to avoid controversy and not criticize “Israel.”

Furthermore, among the many critics of Welbey were the Anglican Episcopal Church in Jordan and Palestine. Several Palestinians and Jordanians from the Christian community sent Welby a strongly worded message, in which they expressed their indignation and outrage at his statements that are aligned with the Zionist narrative and lack support for the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people to live freely and the right to self-determination.

Welby returned on Thursday, 7 March 2024, tweeting a different version from his earlier position. He stated that he had spoken to Pastor Isaac, expressing “extreme horror at the Israeli bombing and blockade of Gaza”, condemning the killing of Palestinian civilians, the destruction of homes and neighborhoods, and pushing people to the brink of famine, explaining that there is no moral justification for this, calling in turn for an immediate ceasefire, for aid to reach all those who need it most, and for the release of all hostages.”

Perhaps the Archbishop of Canterbury has finally digested Isaac’s words that Gaza is the moral compass of the world now and that what is happening is genocide against the Palestinians. By making a different narrative means that the credibility of the Gospel is at stake, and thus to deny a rights-based proclamation, as witnesses of Christ on earth, under the Biblical verse: “And you know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

Thank you, Dr. Welby, for reconsidering what is really happening in Gaza. But, after e more the Israelis had killed more than 30,000 civilians, among them more than 12,000 Palestinian children there is a greater need to be more insistent for an end to this carnage. Despite the cost and pain, shouting for a ceasefire is now a more urgent need to save what is left of human lives. To come late. It is necessary to say enough to the killing and destruction machine of Israel and its partners. It is high time to say no to those who have killed more than 4.5% of the population of the Gaza Strip, including 3% of the Christian community.

We expect Justin Welby now to raise his voice even more, as the Archbishop of the Church of England, and in his stewardship of Anglican property, among them the bombed Baptist (National) Hospital.

The head of the Church of England who anointed the British King of Eng and his wife with holy oil from the tomb of Christ has the following obligation:

First, recognize Britain’s moral and legal responsibility for having handed over Palestine – without the permission of its original inhabitants – to be a national home for the Jews through the shameful Balfour Declaration, and its black history as a mandate authority.

The  Church needs to put more pressure on the British government to compensate for the woes they have committed against the Palestinian people, and to work seriously for an immediate ceasefire ending the aggression on the Gaza Strip, demanding a humanitarian corridor to transport humanitarian and relief aid, and recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to life, freedom and self-determination.

Second: The British government must be made responsible for perpetuating the status quo, as the partner of “Israel” in the genocide of the Palestinian people. As an example of this, the British government must be made to describe exactly what happened at the Baptist Hospital. Dr. Welby needs to bravely put forward certain facts such as :

• The Baptist Hospital received two warning (knock on the roof) warning missiles before it was hit on October 17, 2023.
• It had before that received eviction notices amid the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

Archbishop Webley must also openly and publicly denounce the direct British military support to Israel, as of October 7, Britain has sent RFA ARGUS and RFA LYME BAY support vessels, which include a company of the Royal Marines and three Merlin helicopters, and a P8 surveillance spy plane and contribute to the detection of any arms smuggling operations to Israel.

Welby should make the explicit demand that the United Kingdom must not supply arms, whether through open arms bids or grants from the UK government which has been described as a token of friendship to stand with Israel. The Israelis have used deadly weapons in their continuing massacres and ethnic cleansing to annihilate the Palestinian people, most notably in the Gaza Strip.

Moreover, Britain does not disclose at all what is being sent in pursuance of the principles of transparency. “According to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), between 2018 and 2022, the UK exported £146 million (€167 million) worth of arms to the occupation army, the largest sale during this period of military training and targeting equipment.” The report of the campaign stated that Israeli F-35 warplanes were used in the bombing of the densely populated area – meaning Gaza.

In another context, the occupation promotes its Israeli-made military equipment, presenting it for general export, and being marketed as “tested in battle”, in the sense that it has been tested on the Palestinians, which puts our people as guinea pigs against the enormity of imperialist colonialism, which invests our pain and suffering for a great profit. We look to Rev Welby to say a moral word about this kind of relationship and trade.

Concerning the above evidence, Britain is a major partner of Israel in the genocide currently being committed against the Palestinian people, making it responsible to the same degree that the occupation has infused us with countless massacres. This leads us to the conclusion that it is as if Britain through its photoelectric equipment, has sketched the target in the hospital courtyard, illuminated its factory past for the liver of the sky, and bombed its Baptist hospital and its evangelical church in Gaza with precision missiles, causing the massacre, and scattered the bodies of children thrown into the outer courtyards.

Third: The Church must be active and responsive, expressing its moral obligation to stop the war and bloodshed, based on its theological commitment to the Gospel and by the words of Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.” The call for peace is to put an end to the hijacking of the Church by Christian Zionism and its colonialist narrative, especially the shameful positions of the British House of Bishops, which is openly biased towards the occupation, as it affirmed in all its statements its absolute support for Israel and its right to self-defense, and until mid-February, it did not call for a definitive and complete ceasefire but only praised the truce that took place.

As if they did not care about the killing by Israel of 18 Palestinians from the Christian community when the occupation bombed the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church and other institutions belonging to the church, he reiterated his position that “there is no equivalence between the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli civilians, and Israel’s right and duty to defend itself. ” Therefore, we call on Welby not to keep his apology on a virtual platform, but to translate it into actions that radically change the positions of the College of Bishops, and to make an effort to open up more to the Church in the east, from which the light of Christianity emanated to the world.

This puts an obligation on Rev.  Welby to listen to the indigenous Christians of the east, the descendants of the first Christians, the disciples of Christ, and those who accompanied Him as he preached and taught in the land of Palestine, those who stayed with Him on the Mount of Beatitudes, witnessed His miracles, prayed with Him at the Last Supper, surrounded him wept and defended Him in the olive grove before the crucifixion.

Fourth: Britain uses every opportunity to veto a Palestinian request for an ICC investigation into Israel’s atrocities in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. In this way, the UK has participated not only in prolonging the occupation but in reneging on its promises to the Palestinian Authority, by giving it ‘Appeasement’ tranquilizers, about the commitment to the futile two-state solution.

Fifth, Dr. Welby needs to address the issue of Palestinian prisoners with the same zeal as he has been faithfully showing to Israeli hostages in all his statements. Before 7 October, there were about 5500 Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, who were considered prisoners of war under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Those prisoners include children, women, and the sick. In addition, a large number of prisoners are detained in administrative detention (without charge or trial) under the pretext of secret evidence that the accused or even their lawyer cannot access), This allows the jailer to continue abducting Palestinians for several months or years in a row, according to periodic renewal of the administrative director, sometimes up to seven and a half years. In his statements, Welby has never even mentioned the issue of Palestinian prisoners, including Christian Palestinian prisoners. Nor has he attempted to visit them or their families through his church each time he came to the Holy Land. The prison visits are a Biblical command according to what the Holy Bible called: “I was a prisoner and you visited me” (Mathew 25:36).

After 7 October, the occupation’s brutality in arrests increased, with more than 9,100 Palestinian prisoners, nearly half of them under administrative detention. Accordingly, we call upon Archbishop Welby to mention the Palestinian prisoners during his sermons. Pray for them, and try to visit them, to demand their release and to put an end to their many-year nightmare.

Again, we thank Welby for his openness, his very revision, his public apology, and for trying to correct his mistake, this is a well-appreciated decent act.

We, the Christians of the East call on the Church in all its communities to exercise its role, rein in colonialism, and remember that Christ also lived under Roman colonialism, and His life and teachings were revolutionary and anti-colonial.

As Christians, we all must follow His example, and stop wavering with lofty principles to please global powers, but rather express courageously the radicalism of our faith and our teachings that are rooted in the Christian faith.

 *The author is a writer from Jerusalem