Tag Archives: Church

Israeli spokespeople’s falsehoods over snipers killing civilians are laid bare

Layla Moran: she has relatives in a Gaza church compound that is allegedly being targeted by IDF snipers and Israeli politicians are lying by saying this would not happen.

A mother and daughter have been shot dead – allegedly, by an Israeli military sniper – in a church compound in Gaza City. They were trying to go to a toilet.

Here‘s The Guardian:

[It] was a “cold–blooded killing”, the most senior Catholic cleric in England has said.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the archbishop of Westminster, said the shooting did “nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself”.

The two women were killed inside the Holy Family parish in Gaza City on Saturday, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Most of Gaza’s Christian families have taken refuge in the compound since the start of the war.

Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar were shot as they walked to the sister’s convent, the patriarchate said. One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety.

“Seven more people were shot and wounded as they tried to protect others inside the church compound. No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the parish, where there are no belligerents.”

Nichols, who has twice visited the parish, told Sky News on Monday: “This [happened] within what has been clearly designated as a church place, which I cannot believe for a minute has rocket launchers in it [as Israel claims]. It’s a community that, since October, has sheltered hundreds of people and looked after them.”

He added: “It’s certainly a cold-blooded killing. What absolutely puzzles me is that this does nothing to further Israel’s right to defend itself.”

On Sunday, Pope Francis suggested Israel was using “terrorism” tactics in Gaza as he deplored the killing of the women.

The Pope did indeed say that:

Relatives of Liberal Democrat (and part Palestinian) MP Layla Moran – her grandmother, her son, his wife and their 11-year-old twins – had been inside the same church since their home was bombed in the first week of the war, she has told the same newspaper.

She said Israeli forces had since “taken the building opposite the Holy Family church, and there are now snipers at every window with their guns pointing into the church. There’s also a tank that’s taken up position outside. Anyone trying to move around is being shot at.”

So she’s pretty clear on who is likely to have shot anybody within that church complex. So is the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and so is the Pope.

But it seems Israel isn’t even admitting there are Christian churches in Gaza, let alone Christians themselves.

Here’s the (London-born) deputy mayor of Jerusalem, making herself and her adopted country look completely psychotic:

Furthermore…

He’s certainly telling falsehoods.

For one, a blood libel is an accusation that Jews are using the blood of Christians in their religious rituals. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of such an accusation here.

For another, we know that Israel absolutely does target civilians. Remember those three Israelis, who had been Hamas hostages, but managed to free themselves only to be shot by (guess who?) Israeli Defence Force snipers? Read:

It seems abundantly clear that Israeli military forces do indeed target civilians – including their own.

Finally, as to Hamas giving new meaning to the expression, “human shield”… Take a look at this:

So there you have it.

Israeli military personnel deliberately targeted people in a church complex that was not being used by combatants – this is a war crime. Israeli military personnel habitually target non-combatant civilians – this is a war crime. Israeli military personnel habitually use Palestinian civilians (including children) as human shields. This also is a war crime. And their representatives lie about it to give western governments an excuse to stay sweet.

After bombing a hospital, Israeli air strike(s) hit church(es)

Today (October 20, 2023), this happened:

If I’m reading the reports right, the BBC has not even bothered to report on the air strike above, because it has another church to mention:

“On Thursday, an Orthodox Christian church compound in Gaza City where church authorities say hundreds of people were sheltering was hit. Israel says its jets had targeted a nearby Hamas base used to fire rockets at its territory and it was reviewing the incident.”

So Israel isn’t even bothering to deny responsibility now; religious sites are considered to be nothing more than collateral damage.

I’m not sure whether Article 8 of the Geneva Convention is the right rule to quote, but it is certainly true that under international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, religious buildings are offered special protection. These international laws of war bar firing upon or from a religious building.

So: another Israeli war crime.

And how about this:

“What’s wrong with him?” the clip asks. What indeed! It seems that Israeli officials are now so used to throwing their weight around without being contradicted, that they are trying to dictate what people from other cultures are or are not allowed to wear.

Bravo to the interviewer for standing her ground.

Meanwhile the war of words in the UK’s social media continues unabated:

What? Responsibility does matter. Sadly, Israel continues to refuse to take responsibility for its air strike, despite having initially done so; it then withdrew the announcement. How anybody can complain about Jeremy Corbyn in this context is bizarre.

Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak continued to show his true colours: failing to support Gaza…

… and fawning to Gaza’s persecutor:

There are voices of reason:

And there are some less reasonable comments too:

Meanwhile, it seems Israel may have split opinions within its own population – violently:

Finally, there’s this piece of right-wing lunacy – that tries to assert that demonstrations for peace in the Middle East are in fact the opposite. Why do the authorities never ask questions about this kind of hate-mongering?

And if you do want to join the protest:

Tory MP says bishops should stop ‘preaching from the pulpit’. What does he think they do for a living?

The so-called “House of Commons hooligan” Jonathan Gullis, Tory MP for Stoke-on-Trent North since 2019, has made another of his famously misguided attacks – this time at bishops in the House of Lords.

His outburst came after all the Anglican bishops in the Upper House said the Tory government’s Rwanda deportation policy, which was endorsed as “lawful” by the High Court earlier this week, should “shame us as a nation”.

They signed a letter saying, “The shame is our own, because our Christian heritage should inspire us to treat asylum-seekers with compassion, fairness and justice, as we have for centuries.”

In fairness, even the Home Office seems to have accepted that many of those who arrive in the UK by illegal routes still have a claim for asylum; the majority of them are accepted as genuine refugees and are permitted to remain in the UK.

The problem lies in the fact that they have to take illegal routes – making them prey for the Tory government’s deportation policy – because there are no legal routes; the Tories have closed them all off in order to be able to pursue this inhumane mistreatment of people who are already victims.

Gullis’s response may be found here:

So: first he flung some whataboutery into the ether, claiming that the Church should be dealing with abuse claims against its own clergy. How does he know that it isn’t? And isn’t that more a problem for the Catholic clergy?

Then he said: “Too many people are using the pulpit to preach from.” Does he not know that preaching is exactly what the pulpit is for?

This man used to be a teacher but gave up when he was elected into Parliament. He said pupils at the school where he had been working were “probably happy to see me go” – perhaps because they were already better-educated than he was?

He also said the bishops were unelected. Correct – but everybody has an understanding of what constitutes fairness and justice, and nobody needs to be elected to put forward their opinion of what that is.

Furthermore, these are people who sit as experts on law and political matters in the Upper House of Parliament, and their words have weight whether Gullis likes it or not.

Instead of spouting ignorant nonsense, he should learn respect – not just for the bishops who have far more experience and understanding than he does, but also for the people his policies are victimising.

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Why did Tory MPs laugh when Chris Bryant RIGHTLY mocked their intelligence?

Led by a donkey: can anybody really blame the Tories for lacking intelligence when this is the quality of their leader (I know it’s a satirical image but it makes the point very well, doesn’t it)?

It seems some Tories aren’t even intelligent enough to recognise themselves.

This has been a bad week for anybody who wants to tell us our Conservative MPs have two brain cells to rub together.

Tory MP Tom Hunt tried to tell us Rwanda was in Europe on the BBC’s Politics Live. In fact, the dictatorship to which Priti Patel wishes to ship people arriving in the UK illegally is in east Africa.

His colleague Ben Bradley, after the Archbishop of Canterbury criticised the government’s Rwanda policy, said: “We separated the church from the state a long time ago … Commenting on government policy is not Justin Welby’s job”. Perhaps he should have been told the Church of England is Britain’s state church and its Archbishops sit in the House of Lords.

And many Tory MPs have tried to convince us that it would be unthinkable to get rid of prime minister Boris Johnson while a war is happening (even though the UK isn’t even a participant in the Ukraine-Russia conflict) – despite the fact that we have done exactly that, many times in the past.

So Chris Bryant, for all his many other faults, should have been cheered when he made his comments in the House of Commons on Thursday (April 21).

He said:

“Can we have a debate on geography and history lessons? I gather that one Conservative Member has recently stated that we are sending refugees to a ‘safe European country, Rwanda’.

“Another Conservative MP said that the Church of England was disestablished many years ago, which will come as news to the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, Her Majesty.

“Many Government ministers have also said that we cannot change the prime minister during a time of war, despite the fact that we changed prime minister four times during the Afghan war, once during the first world war, the second world war and the second Boer war, and twice during the Peninsular war. Can we have a debate on the intelligence of Conservative Members?

Here’s a video clip of the moment, for posterity:

Much of the laughter came from Opposition benches but the Conservatives joined in.

But perhaps the most laughable moment was when Mark Harper, Leader of the House, suggested that Bryant should try to raise the quality of his debating.

Tories need to learn that, before criticising others, they need to work on improving themselves.

Source: MPs laugh as Labour MP calls for a debate into the intelligence of Conservative MPs

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Coward Starmer sends nonentity Reeves to apologise for his visit to homophobic church because he’s not big enough to say sorry

Keir Starmer fails again: This Site uses this image to signify failure by the Labour Party’s right-wing leader. It’s getting so I don’t need any other images of him at all.

If anything demonstrates that Keir Starmer should not be the United Kingdom’s prime minister, it is this.

We’ve already got a PM who won’t take personal responsibility for his mistakes, stupidities and stated policies of oppression; we don’t need another.

Starmer recently not only visited a church whose priest expresses anti-LGBT+ views – he made a video about it. Here it is:

If he didn’t know about the views held by the congregation at this church, he should have done some research (or his researchers should have). That in itself would be bad enough.

Worse was the fact that he didn’t have the guts to come back and admit he was wrong in person. He’s a coward – or he’s so arrogant that he can’t own up to his mistakes personally. Neither is a good look for a prospective national leader.

Instead, we were offered this, and told to take it or leave it:

The response has been a universal chorus in favour of leaving it – and him – for glaringly obvious reasons, like the fact that he spent the length of his own video endorsing Jesus House. This means Reeves lied:

Oh yes – Starmer tweeted about it, but he absolutely wasn’t going to face the grilling he knew he would get if he actually faced the press.

And all this happened just weeks before the nation goes to the polls for the long-delayed local elections.

Starmer can congratulate himself on briefly securing – then throwing away – the homophobic vote.

Anyone who isn’t a bigot will now stay at home anyway, rather than vote for a party he leads.

 

Source: Keir Starmer apologises for visiting church where pastor opposed gay rights | The Independent

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Tory heretic Baker says Church of England could lose official status for criticising Brexit

Steve Baker: what’s the line I’m looking for? “Before he demands the bishops remove the mote from their eye, he should remove the plank from his own”?

Perhaps Steve Baker should be excommunicated? His true religion appears to be Brexit, anyway.

After Church of England bishops spoke out in the House of Lords against Boris Johnson’s ridiculous ‘Australia-style’ (read: ‘no deal’) Brexit, the oily Baker slithered straight to The Times with his ridiculous suggestion.

The Times is behind a paywall, which limits the damage. I certainly won’t pay Rupert Murdoch any money just to see what he said… but then I don’t have to. Here’s what he said:

I don’t know why Tories say stupid things like this, though. It only lays them wide open to mockery and ridicule, viz.:

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After #BorisJohnson complained about lack of cash, he’s had a #trolling from the #ChurchOfEngland

Realisation dawns: as he reads the passage chosen for him at the Battle of Britain commemoration service in Westminster Abbey, Boris Johnson discovers that the Church of England is trolling him.

Whoever chose the reading for Boris Johnson at Sunday’s commemoration of the Battle of Britain is a genius.

The service at Westminster Abbey celebrated the 80th anniversary of the crucial World War II battle:

The UK’s performing monkey prime minister Boris Johnson attended and gave a reading – but after he reportedly complained about having trouble making ends meet on his more than £150,000-a-year salary, it seems someone responsible for the order of service decided to have a laugh:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

The church should be giving more of this kind of leadership.

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How is the Church of England going to stop unmarried people from having it off?

Justin Welby: this latest proclamation from the Church is a blunder that the Archbishop of Canterbury should have avoided.

Apparently the Church of England has issued advice saying that only heterosexual, married couples should have sex.

Firstly, it is hypocritical for a religious organisation to try to tell the rest of us to abstain, considering the number of sex scandals caused by priests – of all denominations.

And secondly, as a friend of mine just pointed out: “How are you going to stop us, Justin?”

I am reminded of Billy Connolly’s reaction to Presbyterianism in Scotland (which I’ll censor slightly for the Vox Political audience): “John Knox, a f*cking weary willy of a man, and a hypocrite too: ‘THOU SHALT NOT! This is a race of people who wear skirts and no knickers! We f*cking SHALL, pal! Done it before and we’ll do it again.”

It’s political, of course – and the Church has said as much; it is supposed to be a reaction to the introduction of mixed-sex civil partnerships.

But I think there’s more to it than that.

Tories across the country have been moaning about the amount of benefits being paid to poor people who have lots of children (many outside the bonds of wedlock).

Back in the day, it used to be enough to tell people that sex outside marriage was sinful and you’d go to Hell (or some similarly horrible place. Finchley, maybe, or Uxbridge).

Perhaps the Tories are hoping to revive those superstitious and fearful times.

Tough.

There are much more complicated issues here than can be solved with a proclamation from a religious organisation.

All the Church of England has done is make itself look foolish and primitive.

Source: Sex is for married heterosexual couples only, says Church of England | World news | The Guardian

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‘Immoral’ DWP is ‘stubbornly ignoring’ calls for sanctions review, say Churches

Actors demonstrate how DWP officials have reacted to calls for a full, independent review of their sanctions regime.

Actors demonstrate how DWP officials have reacted to calls for a full, independent review of their sanctions regime.

Churches and charities have attacked the Department for Work and Pensions’ refusal to undertake a full review of the benefit sanctions system.

The DWP has issued a response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee inquiry into benefit sanctions – four months overdue – but has failed to commit to a review as recommended.

The Select Committee, the Government’s own advisors, the Social Security Advisory Committee, charities and Churches have all called for a full, independent review of the regime [along with This Writer and his colleagues]. These groups have highlighted the extreme hardship caused, the inconsistent and unjust application of sanctions and the lack of evidence that they encourage people into work.

The Baptist Union, Church in Wales, Church of Scotland, Methodist Church, United Reformed Church and charity Church Action on Poverty have called for an immediate suspension of sanctions against families with children and people with mental ill-health. They say the DWP’s response does not go far enough and have called again for a review.

“In refusing to undertake a full review, the DWP is stubbornly ignoring the calls of parliament, expert advisers, Churches and charities. Most importantly, it is condemning people, many of whom have also spoken out eloquently against the inhumanity of the current practice, to unjust and pointless punishment,”  said Paul Morrison, public issues policy adviser for the Methodist Church.

Responding to the DWP’s announcement that they will try a ‘yellow card’ system, Mr Morrison added: “If a court is working to a bad set of laws for a bad set of reasons and making bad and unreliable decisions, it’s not the sentencing policy you look at. ‘Yellow cards’ will reduce the number of sanctions, which is welcome, but won’t address the fundamental problems that occur long before the decision to sanction has been made. That’s why we need a full independent review”

Even if a benefits claimant is able to demonstrate that they cannot afford food due to being sanctioned, most people will still not become eligible for a hardship payment or loan for a further two weeks and, once eligible, it will take a further three days before payment actually arrives.

Dr Richard Vautrey, a GP in Leeds and deputy chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, said: “GPs are increasingly seeing people who are suffering serious consequences as a result of the current benefit sanctions system. Vulnerable people can be left with no money to pay for essentials such as food and heating and this can then have a damaging impact not only on their physical and mental health but also the health of family members, including children, who depend upon them. Government policy directly puts the health of patients we care for at risk. Immediate action should be taken to end these punitive actions.”

In March this year, the Churches published a report showing that nearly 100,000 children had been affected by sanctions in 2014 alone and that people with mental health problems were being sanctioned at a rate of more than 100 per day. As a result of their campaign more than 2,000 people wrote to their MPs asking them to support a review of the system.

The report told stories like that of Martin*, aged 60, who missed an appointment with the job centre because his wife died suddenly. He was sanctioned for six weeks, leaving him with nothing to live on and in a state of confusion as his wife had previously handled most of their joint paperwork. He came to the local church for help and charity Acts435 helped him with his living expenses until he could come to terms with the new shape his life had taken.

“The Government claims that sanctions help people into work, but the evidence for this claim is practically non-existent,” added Mr Morrison. “However, there is plenty of evidence that sanctions cause hardship, suffering and hunger.

“Any system that seeks to ‘change people’s behaviour’ by using hunger as a weapon is immoral.”

*Not his real name.

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The mentally ill are bearing the brunt of benefit sanctions in Wales

A poster against benefits sanctions in Salford.

People with mental health problems in Wales are being punished for their conditions by benefit sanctions – or the threat of them, according to research by a group of Christian churches.

Two-thirds of those who are sanctioned in Wales are unfit for work because of mental health problems – more than in the rest of the UK. It is likely that the sanctions add to the worry and stress which already cause terrible difficulty for these people.

The information is revealed in the Welsh Data Supplement to the report Time to Rethink Benefit Sanctions, which will be launched in the churches’ tent at the National Eisteddfod in Meifod on Wednesday (August 5), starting at 1pm. The event will hear the stories of some of those who have suffered from sanctions.

In his Preface to the report, the Most Revd Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales, states: “The results are shocking: large numbers of people, particularly those judged unfit for work due to mental health problems, are being punished … by the withholding of their income.”

Chair of Synod Cymru of the Methodist Church, Revd Jennifer Hurd, added, “Over a third of those who are told they may be sanctioned in fact find their sanction is cancelled because of a bureaucratic error. But in the meantime, they will have suffered additional unnecessary stress and anxiety, waiting to find out if their support is to be cut off.”

Moderator of the United Reformed Church in Wales, Revd Simon Walkling, said, “This is a shocking report, and confirms what churches find in their work on the ground with food banks, debt counselling services and other projects helping those in need in their communities. That is why our churches have said that in Wales, as in the rest of the UK, it is time to rethink benefit sanctions.”

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The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

SWAHTprint SWAHTeBook