The United Reformed Church (URC) has passed an emergency resolution in response to the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.
At a meeting of its General Assembly, Rev Steve Faber, who is the URC's moderator of the West Midlands Synod, said the world is "witnessing genocide and we must have the courage to name it as such."
He emphasized it "is about ethics, not ethnicity,” and that the "condemnation is directed at the Israeli government and its military, not the nation or Jewish people.”
The move follows the lead of the World Council of Churches (WCC), whose Central Committee issued a statement during its meeting in June.
In its statement, the WCC said: “We recognise a clear distinction between the Jewish people, our siblings in faith, and the acts of the government of Israel, and we reaffirm that the WCC stands firm against any kind of racism, including antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, and Islamophobia.
“The unbearable suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza, and the escalating violence and oppression in the West Bank and in Jerusalem compel the global fellowship of churches to speak with clarity, urgency, and commitment to the principles of justice under international law and ethics.”
Rev Faber who introduced Resolution 42 to the General Assembly said:
“This is about ethics, not ethnicity.
"We must not allow people to believe that all Jewish people are responsible for these actions. The condemnation is directed at the Israeli government and its military, not the nation or Jewish people.”
Resolution 42 explicitly commends the WCC statement, which calls for an end to “apartheid, occupation, and impunity in Palestine and Israel”. It also accuses the Israeli military campaign of grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, acts which may amount to genocide and/or crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Speaking to Premier, Rev Faber cited Ecclesiastes 3:7 "there's a time to keep silence and a time to speak. And I think it's way beyond time that the churches were speaking out loudly and clearly on this issue."
During the debate, a member, whose family is Jewish, expressed support for the resolution. They affirmed the call to combat antisemitism, though asked for an understanding of the nuance within the Jewish diaspora around the actions of the State of Israel. Within their own family, there were both Zionists and pro Palestinians.
The resolution was adopted with overwhelming support by the Assembly.