by Julian Mann
The statement ‘in the name of God’ by the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, against the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza is, despite what it says on the tin, far from infallible.
He said: ‘With each passing day in Gaza, the violence, starvation and dehumanisation being inflicted on the civilian population by the Government of Israel becomes more depraved and unconscionable. In the name of God, I cry out against this barbaric assault on human life and dignity. It is a stain on the conscience of the international community, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.’
He also said: ‘Action must be taken now to stop this ongoing assault on Gaza, end settlement-building and settler violence in the West Bank, and secure negotiation for a lasting and just peace.’
It is unclear from Archbishop Cottrell’s statement on July 23 what kind of action he is calling for against Israel. Is he calling for international military action against the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)? He does not specify.
Whatever action against Israel Archbishop Cottrell may have in mind, The Times and Jewish Chronicle columnist, Melanie Phillips, has provided an alternative perspective from the line pushed by the Church of England hierarchy on Israel’s military action against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the ‘settler violence’ in the West Bank.
She wrote on her substack on July 23 after the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the foreign ministers of 27 other countries claimed the ‘Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity’:
‘Rub your eyes. The “Israeli government’s aid delivery model” – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation which is actually run by the Americans and supervised by the IDF – is the only means of reliably getting food to Gaza’s civilians rather than it being stolen by Hamas. The GHF has supplied more than 80 million meals to Gazan civilians. There are actually videos on social media of Gazans cheering the IDF and thanking them for the first food they’ve received that’s free. So what on earth are Britain and the rest talking about?’
About ‘settler violence’ she wrote:
‘In the past few days, the charge that “settlers” had set fire to a ruined Byzantine church in the Christian village of Taybeh has been shown to be a lie. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, who previously visited the church when he described the reported arson attack as “absolute terrorism” and declared “desecrating a church, mosque or synagogue is a crime against humanity and God,” has now walked that back and acknowledged that the church was undamaged – as was always entirely obvious from its undamaged stone walls. The police say the fire was “limited to an adjacent open area”. Yet the claim that the church was burned by “violent settlers” was promoted heavily by local priests and activists – and the Jews have once again been viciously libelled by a lie that ricocheted around the world.’
Archbishop Cottrell’s statement raises some other serious questions: why does he think that Israel deserves international action against it? Does he believe that ‘settler violence’ on the West Bank and Israel’s action in Gaza have greater international consequences than, for example, the fact that the UK is a massive market for illegal drugs smuggled in from around the world?
In 2018, when he was an opposition MP, David Lammy told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that London was ‘the drugs market of Europe’. The Labour MP for Tottenham said the UK’s drugs market was worth £11 billion, and London was at its centre.
The BBC reported: ‘This figure comes from the National Crime Agency, which says that drug trafficking to the UK costs an estimated £10.7 billion per year. This actually refers to the cost to the public purse of illegal drug use – in treating people in the NHS, the costs to the courts of dealing with offences, thefts by drug users and so on – rather than the worth of the market. The Home Office has estimated the illegal drugs market to be worth £5.3bn.’
The fact that the UK is a huge market for dangerous illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and cannabis is an international issue because the use of these drugs by a substantial proportion of the UK population is fuelling criminality worldwide. Does Archbishop Cottrell believe action should be taken against the UK government for failing to deal with the problem?
Arguably, in trying to defeat Hamas in Gaza the government of Israel is performing not only its duty to its own citizens but also its international duty, unlike the UK government in its signal failure to deal with its country’s drug problem. Hamas is a savage terrorist organisation operating internationally, which in 2021 the UK government proscribed.
Why does Archbishop Cottrell apparently fail to see that if Israel succeeds in defeating Hamas, it will have done the world a favour?
Julian Mann, a former Church of England vicar, is an evangelical journalist based in Lancashire, UK.