In 1656, the 366 year old banning of Jewish people in England began to come to an end. Between 1656 and 1690, approximately 400 Jewish people came to settle in England. Whilst this was taking place – in 1686 – a small plot of land was being consecrated in London by Bishop Henry Compton. It was to be a Church for the new parish of St Anne.
Today St Anne’s church sits in Soho. It is an Anglican Church in the ecclesiastical province of Canterbury. Last night the Church gave a platform to Miko Peled for a talk titled ‘Journey of an Israeli in Palestine’. It was held in the Community Hall at the Church, a venue with a capacity for about 100 people.
Peled is no stranger to controversy. I say this because I believe he seeks it out. Peled is a professional provocateur. Like Max Blumenthal, but somewhat braver, Peled enjoys saying things that make those that don’t like him angry. He wants them to react. He has probably made the calculation that the more he provokes those pesky ‘Zionists’, the louder the audience cheers and the more books he sells.
This week he is touring parts of the UK before moving on to Italy.
Last week he was at the Labour Party Conference. This was his third time, but unlike previous years he wasn’t given an official pass and had to make do with talking at fringe events.
Not tonight. Tonight he was the main event at the Church.
The adoring faithful come to Church
Elleanne Green and Stephen Sizer both publicised and attended the event:
Green is the antisemitic founder of Palestine Live. Someone who has shared material from every shade of extremist website from both left and right. Stephen Sizer has a long history of pushing antisemitic conspiracies.
For the most part we can only guess at who else is in the room (far more to come on this). But there are those that publicly advertise their attendance. People like Robin Licker from the International Solidarity Movement:
To fully immerse yourself in the ideology that St Anne’s Church holds hands with, take a look at this post from Licker:
‘2 Israeli war criminals were neutralised’. What really happened is that two Israelis, Ziv Hajbi, 35, and Kim Yehezkel, 29 went to do their jobs in a local industrial park that employs both Arabs and Jews and they were both killed by a terrorist. The attacker had tied them up before killing them. Kim lived in Rosh Ha’ayin and had just dropped her baby at a nursery before going to work. Ziv was from Rishon and left behind a wife and three children. Both the Islamic Jihad and Hamas praised the attack.
The hate of the ignorant
This language is no accident. Here it Licker talking about dead Israelis being ‘neutralised’ again:
There were only two fatalities in that specific attack. Yuval Mor Yosef, 20, and Yosef Cohen, 19 were shot and killed as they waited for a bus. A third soldier was wounded but survived. It can be hoped that Licker wasn’t referring to the only other Israeli fatality at that time, a new-born, who was delivered by c-section from his shot and wounded pregnant mother but never survived. Licker ends his tale of ‘neutralisation’ with the hashtag #vivelaresistance. Hamas took responsibility for that attack. Is this really the language of the Anglican Church?
Licker’s vile attitude is built on galactic stupidity and ignorance. How few brain cells can one have to write this post:
Jews, Christians and Muslims didn’t live as equals in this land until Israel provided equality to its citizens through its laws. Jews and Christians had discriminatory laws against them prior to the arrival of the British, as they did (and still do) throughout most of the Middle East. During the Mandate, Jews faced numerous explicit restrictions. The Christians have been fleeing Muslim persecution for centuries. The Ottomans had laws banning Jews from entry and restricted both free movement and land purchase. Jews also suffered from sporadic violence, such as when 133 Jews from religious communities were massacred by Arabs in Hebron, Jerusalem and Tzfat in 1929. Licker’s post is propaganda poppycock swallowed by someone who has allowed ignorance and blind hatred to stew to such a heat, he now pokes fun at innocent people who were tied up and shot at their workplace.
It is Licker’s right to be as thuggish, as vile, as stupid and as immoral as he chooses. But does the Church really need to accommodate the ideas of these people?
How many antisemites in the room?
I’ve been down this road too often to need to do this thoroughly again. The room was nearly full and can take 100 people:
Every person I found publicly attached to the event, like Choci Mackenzie:
Has history:
The ‘Rothschild Banking Cabal’ might be bad enough. The Politcalvelcraft.org website is a rabidly racist website, that promotes all forms of far-right bigotry.
And a new one on me, Charlotte Gracias:
Carries the same old baggage:
Or (and I do not have his full name) this guy, who uses the Twitter handle ‘Brynzie’:
Who also seems to think those Zionists are behind everything:
And ever present is the racist galactic stupidity. 800k Jews leave the homes their communities have lived in for centuries, many forced to leave their property behind – and ‘Brynzie’ wants to blame the Jews.
In this sewer, right and left have no meaning and the concentration level of these racists is almost always above 50%. Which means if 100 were in the room, at least 50 are likely to push hard-core racist material. This is what St Anne’s Church in Soho gave a home and a voice to.
Peled in the Church
But this is Peled’s night. Peled is not a man of peace. He is a man clearly wired to seek revenge for whatever injustice his own mind has created for him. He is also someone who buckles when his weak arguments are exposed. I always put Peled’s leaving of the fold down to his inability to handle the weight of his family heritage, but it doesn’t really matter anymore what drove him over the cliff. What is certain is that he drove off it.
Peled likes provoking Jews. Those who think his ‘Holocaust, yes or no‘ comment from the Labour Party conference of 2017 is a stand-alone remark haven’t been paying attention. At UCL the same year he spoke about ‘the witch-hunt against antisemites and Holocaust deniers.’ going on to suggest to Jeremy Corbyn that he should put away the ‘nonsense about Holocaust denial and the nonsense about antisemitism‘. If you follow his threads on Twitter and Facebook you soon realise his audience is little more than an extremist, racist mob.
So Peled stands in the Church and beats his chest about how the Labour Party Conference was little more than a ‘rally for Palestine’. He isn’t wrong. With the NHS, austerity and housing as major concerns for their voters, the Labour Party did little but obsess over Israel.
Peled spoke as he normally does – blaming everything on Zionists and Israeli discrimination. Context and humanity and reason are removed. Lies are created. The end result is raw demonisation. Then look at the laugh his jokes about antisemitism gets from the crowd in the Church.
There is nothing funny about any of this. With Antisemitism visibly on the rise across the globe, the Church provides a platform to someone who ridicules racism against Jews. Peled is feeding antisemitism. He is demonising Zionism and Israel to an audience containing many who already buy into anti-Jewish conspiracy.
The Church has lost it
I am not sure what to expect from the Church anymore. My own experiences at St James’s Piccadilly, Hinde St and Lichfield have been far from encouraging. A quick glance through the St Anne’s website finds the Rector describing Mary as a ‘Palestinian Jewish mother’ (see entry from 8th September). This type of description isn’t just historically fraudulent, it is religiously insulting.
The thing is that Peled brings antisemitism with him. These people are his audience. What happened last night was that Miko Peled stood in a room, in the presence of those who share Holocaust denial and other hard-core racist, anti-Jewish material and he cracked jokes about antisemitism. The room laughed as you would expect in such a circumstance. Peled was feeding the antisemites. We can expect nothing less from Miko Peled. We can also expect nothing less from antisemites.
But is this really what we should now expect from the Church?
There is far more to come on this event- but that is the opening question. A question that one only those who allowed this to take place at the Church of St Anne’s in Soho can answer.
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David,
if you want to complain about the use of the Hall and the groups they hire it to then write to the Parochial Church Council (PCC)
If you want to complain about the Rector, then in the first instance write to the Archdeacon.
You can get the name and address for both either out of St. Anne’s Annual Report, or from the London Diocese website.
oh dear Gerald has been googling again
Stephen you are always quick to accuse me of Googling.
Did it occur to you that I might have been baptised an Anglican?
I was.
Did it occur to you that as an Anglican I might have had a reason at some time to complain about the activities of a Vicar and therefore know how the system works?
I have and I did, and received a letter of apology from the Vicar in question.
Sometimes you should be aware that some people have knowledge and experience that they did not pick up on Google.
Oh no Stephen’s trying to fill Muck Framer’s pixie-sized shoes, and he’s too stupid to even manage that. You don’t want people remembering you as dumber than Muck Framer, Dumb-Bell.
That’s some angst you’ve got, Ben. Constipated?
One of us is full to overflowing with shite. Spoiler: It’s not me.
Thanks for this report on Peled. He came to speak in my city (Ithaca, New York) a few years ago, on November 2, 2016. His talk was sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace and the Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine (these are basically the same group of people). It was held at a community space, much to the shame of those who permitted him to speak there. This event was sponsored by JVP even though the national organization had disavowed him for his antisemitism already in September 2016 – see https://legalinsurrection.com/2016/09/jewish-voice-for-peace-disavows-bds-activist-miko-peled-no-place-4-antisemitism-in-our-movement/. It’s discouraging how many people are now being exposed to his voice for hatred of Jews and of Israel. I hadn’t known about his concern for the rights of Holocaust deniers before. Here’s what I wrote about his visit to Ithaca – https://mystical-politics.blogspot.com/2016/10/anti-israel-activist-miko-peled-to.html. And earlier this year he also spoke at another US university – https://bucknellian.net/90156/opinion/miko-peled-where-to-draw-the-line/ – with the usual apologetics from the Jewish (!) member of the faculty who invited him.
Gee, the church loves antisemites? Who would have thought that could ever happen. Can’t wait until all that vile hate comes right back at them. They’ll look fabulous in Muslim garb and worshipping Allah
St Anne’s Church, Soho allows its Hall and Allen Room to be used for a variety of events for the benefit of the community. It was in this spirit that we accepted a room booking from an organisation called ‘Keep Talking’ for them to hold an evening entitled ‘Journey of an Israeli in Palestine’. Unfortunately, this event, which was entirely separate from the church, may not have accurately reflected our values or those of our community. We would not have accepted the booking had we been aware of its potential to cause offence.
The church was neither organising nor promoting the event, which is why it did not appear in any of our publicity. However, I am deeply embarrassed that we inadvertently gave a platform, however small, to anyone whose words on the night, or reputation from the past, had the potential to cause offense. St Anne’s absolutely opposes any form of hatred: be it racism, homophobia or antisemitism. We apologise for the offence that has been caused to members of the Jewish Community and will be donating the room hire fee to Community Security Trust.
Rev’d Simon Buckley
“St Anne’s absolutely opposes any form of hatred”
It would then oppose the Zionist(racist) endeavour that is Israel, military occupier and annexer of land that could be used for a Palestinian State.
“St Anne’s absolutely opposes any form of hatred”
Rev’d, an example below of the hate that this blog writer spews about the leader of a party that would move against Israel and its racist actions.
You have been tricked. The money could have been better used on your church and its people.
‘David Collier
mishtal
Apr 5
Lying, antisemitic, anti-west, terrorist loving, NATO hating, Jew-baiting, IRA supporting, community splitting, economy wrecking – Corbyn
A useful idiot for despotic regimes, terrorists and all our other enemies
Supporting Corbyn is not just stupid
It’s dangerous
‘
Oh come on ” Rev’d” if you have a pair of balls lets have a peek. If you are intimating someone or other is antisemitic come out and clearly state it . At least David does., despite his many faults. We all know that the Church is an implacable enemy of the Palestinian people and has been since Welby arrived on the scene. Once an oil company executive always an oil company executive
We’ve all seen the dark Still of their sit-down meeting, but here is a 30 second Youtube clip of a newsreel documenting a sit-down meeting between Socialist hilter and Islamofascist Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.
The Red/Green Axis of Evil from the 1940’s – preceded the Red/Green Axis of Evil of today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W7vJjCWJI0
We can deduce from the above video that Socialist Hitler threw balls like a girl.
There is a trend in some Churches to follow the idea of ‘REPLACEMENT THEORY’ which dictates that the birth of Jesus Christ has heralded the redundancy of the Jewish people.
These Churches believe that Judaism has been replaced by Christ, and that Judaism should quietly disappear into the annals of history.
As Israel is the sole Jewish nation state, it is also rated as a non-essential entity that should disappear.
Trying to engage with adherents of this ‘replacement theory’ tends to be a fruitless exercise, because if they accept the validity of Jewish existence, they have to deny their entire theological reality
I first encountered them in South Africa, and of course many adherents here in the UK
They in effect believe we should disappear without trace.
I have always found them to be grossly anti-Jewish and Antisemetic
That is possibly why so many anti-Israel events are held within certain Christian denominations and Churches
Hilarious rantings with no basis whatsoever. Richard lives in Fairyland.
Don’t be a lazy activist Michael. This is interesting. Even a cursory search of the interweb shows some information about replacement theory and its adherents.
So, rather than park one of your copy/paste slogans and then run away as normal, it would be quite interesting to hear a more thoughtful rebuttal.
Does it concern you that an open-mindedness to the existence of supporters of this theory in UK churches could be damaging to your anti-Jew, anti-Israel activism?
Seriously, I’m not Geralding it here and trying to score some cheap social media point. I reckon that if a contributor like Richard makes a sensible post like this, you should have the self confidence to be able to do better than the usual crass one-liners, right?
I was wondering “When is Muck Framer going to show up and say something asinine?” You never disappoint in that regard, Muck.
What was the job of the Jewish people prior to this redundancy Richard.
Ian
Farmer is incapable of intelligent discussion.
His stock in trade is mundane and meaningless one liners that I assume he thinks are witty
I really don’t expect much of a mindless troll trying to score brownie points
Your post was instructive Richard. Insofar as it focused on prejudices from the church rather politicians it changes the emphasis of things here for a while. I wondered whether this approach would cause the activists some trouble as the usual slogans were less applicable. However, it seems that where media response is concerned with these paid trolls, a copy/paste function is all they need. Pity really This is an interesting subject for discussion
I see Scoffie has been doing his McCarthyite schtick again. Ir is time to do something about him. I’ll take rhat responsibility
Stephen, serious question.
What has Jonathan Hoffman ever done to you that fills you with so much rage, and a lust for revenge?
He tied a fire cracker to the tail of a kitten . a black one at that. It gets worse. It was Yom Kippur
Stephen did you witness this shocking event?
Or is it just hearsay?
Gerald, this blog is built on heresay …. and ridiculous slurs.
Farmer are you suggesting that your ‘bestest friend’ Stephen, has written a post “built on heresay …. and ridiculous slurs.”
Wash your mouth out with soap and water, you vile blasphemer!
By the way Farmer, it is ‘hearsay’ not ‘heresay’.
Ask your bosses at the troll farm to buy a better English Dictionary, then you will not look like an illiterate tit, all the time.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain a spell checker, and lose his own soul?
Mike 8:36
Farmer it would profit you by reducing the amount of time you look like an illiterate wassock.
When you write ‘Mike 8:36’, is the first number (8) the number of fingers you have on each hand?
And the second group of numbers (36) the level of your I.Q.?
No, silly.
It’s Chapter 8 Verse 36 of Mike to the Zionists.
I think my interpretation is more likely.
Although I concede that estimating your I.Q. at 36 may be an overestimation of the actual figure.
i didn’t witness it directly but my cat Gnasher knows a cat in Finchley whos cousin heard about it in the pub
That is fair enough then.
I have more confidence in Gnasher’s word than yours Stephen.
Stephen
I’m not sure which takes precedence in your comments, the pure stupidity or banality of them
You continuously attempt to prove your stupidity despite the fact that you have shown that it’s all a sham by previously displaying moments of lucidity and intelligence.
Incidentally, when are you going to answer my original questions about Israel. Do us a favour and pull your thumb out