Reactions to the Church of England General Synod’s vote on Palestine

Posted on July 16, 2026 
Filed under Church of England, Opinion

Here are two reactions to the vote in the Church of England’s General Synod –

Why the Church of England has got Israel wrong – James Patrick at Premier Christianity.

“Dear Archbishop Sarah,

In light of the controversial motion passed at General Synod yesterday, your five-day pilgrimage in the Holy Land just three weeks ago could appear to be a well-timed advertisement in its support. Even so, your concluding pastoral letter wisely steered clear of the worst excesses of the Kairos Palestine II document commended in the motion. KPII accuses Israel 30 times of ‘genocide’, and claims that the State of Israel is ‘racist’ and colonialist from its origins (1.3; 2.1; 3.3; 4.2), a listed example of antisemitism in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition adopted by the Church of England in 2018. It is no wonder that British Jewish and Christian leaders alike have expressed their deep concerns about this motion, which promotes incendiary accusations rejected by our own government. …”

A Shameful Day for the Church of England – Julian Mann at The Daily Sceptic.

“The atmosphere at the Church of England’s General Synod after it passed its shameful anti-Israel motionwas frighteningly complacent. From where I was sitting in the press gallery on July 13th the members in the chamber seemed to be very pleased with themselves.

But unless these largely middle-class Anglicans had returned home to an enclosed-order monastery after their meeting in the York University central hall, how could they fail to register the impact of the nuclear bomb they had just let off?  …”

Image: Church of England General Synod, 13 July 2026.

See also Ian Paul’s speech during the debate –