Labour on the gallows

As with Haman, the threat to Jews comes back on its own head

The devastating blow to Labour’s fortunes in December’s election is somewhat reminiscent of the way the Jews of ancient Persia were saved from annihilation through the intervention of Queen Esther. And with the Jewish festival that celebrates this great deliverance on March 9th, it is an appropriate time to reflect on its ongoing lessons – especially in view of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (January 27th) on the eve of Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War II..

Haman, one of the Persian king’s ministers, was plotting to destroy the Jewish people and had built a gallows on which to hang Esther’s guardian Mordecai. But it came back on his own head when news reached the king, of the latter’s part in thwarting an assassination plot. In the same way, the Labour Party made a rope with which to hang itself, taking sides against the God of Israel through an effective alliance with Middle Eastern terrorist groups committed to wiping the Jewish state off the map while also posing a threat to Britain’s Jewish community.

… cursing him that curseth thee

In doing so, they suffered a wipe-out at the polls from which they may never recover. They had touched the ‘apple of God’s eye’ (Zech. 2.8), which blinded them to virtually all other realities. Author Giles Udy, writing in the Daily Mail 1 , was particularly struck by the last Labour rally of the election campaign when supporters gathered to cheer Corbyn while, across the road, activists protesting against the party’s handling of anti-Semitism had unravelled a banner saying ‘Never Corbyn’. But the Corbynites jeered and chanted: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ – effectively calling for the eradication of Israel. “Supporters of the Labour Party thus taunted their Jewish fellow citizens and implicitly threatened them with genocide – on British streets,” Udy noted.

This kind of scenario had been witnessed before, most shockingly during the 2018 Labour Conference in Liverpool where the same chant was heard amid the waving of Palestinian flags. The party’s political arguments had thus been reduced to chants about ‘Palestine’, demonstrating little concern for real issues either at home or abroad. Ross Clark, in the same paper, wrote: “The Palestinian terrorist group (Hamas) has lost their most high-profile political ally in the Western world…”

… bless them that bless thee

So we praise God for this Esther-like rescue due in no small measure to the fervent prayers of many Christians desperate for a turnaround in our political and spiritual fortunes. We should have been dancing in the streets for being spared a Jew-hating, Marxist government, just as the Jews of Persia celebrated with joy and gladness following their deliverance through Esther (Esther 8.16).

Standing with Israel is an important step in the right direction (Gen. 12.3, Isa. 60.12, Joel 3.2) and Boris Johnson has made it clear that he is a friend of the Jewish state. He has also struck a conciliatory note with his opponents, displaying a degree of humility which bodes well for the opportunity of righting past wrongs where Israel is concerned. Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt made a start by apologising for the way we treated Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust by denying them entry to the Promised Land when Britain held the mandate for the territory.

Remembering San Remo

Boris needs to take this further as we have repeatedly betrayed Israel over the years, in exchange for oil and Arab appeasement. And a chance to do something positive on this score is close at hand with the forthcoming centenary of the San Remo Conference on the Italian Riviera. The treaty signed there in April 1920 by the allied victors of World War I represents Israel’s ‘earthly deed’ to their ancient land – yes, all the way from the river to the sea! Yet most nations (apart from the U.S.) are still pushing for a ‘two-state solution’ which is nowhere to be found in this key document.

A change of heart – and policy – is urgently required as a right relationship with Israel is essential to a nation’s success. But it doesn’t end there. Once we’ve re-established that our support for Israel is foundational to a nation built on biblical precepts, we are on the path towards recovering our JudeoChristian ethos across the whole spectrum of national life. For in serving the God of Israel, we will surely find ourselves re-connected to the Jewish Messiah, on whose principles our great country was built.

Meanwhile a Church of England document calling for repentance from Christians for contributing to the Holocaust is welcome indeed, especially at a time of drastically rising anti-Semitism. Also welcome is the unprecedented political intervention of South African-born Ephraim Mirvis, the UK’s Chief Rabbi, in the run-up to the General Election, saying that the soul of the nation was at stake over the prospect of the opposition Labour Party winning power.

“Many members of the Jewish community can hardly believe this is the same party that they proudly called their political home,” he wrote in The Times with reference to the ongoing scandal of anti-Semitic activity within Labour, before asking: “What will the result of this election say about the moral compass of our country?”2

God’s unfailing Word

The Church of England report3 , welcomed with reservation by the Rabbi, acknowledges the substantial role played by mistaken Christian theology in the stereotyping and persecution of Jewish people over the centuries – for example, in attributing Jewish suffering as punishment for crucifying Christ, when the Bible clearly states that it was God’s will for Jesus to suffer (Isaiah 53.10).

This is a much more helpful approach than that just taken by South Africa’s Anglicans in passing a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign – a wholly anti-Israel document promoting the lie that today’s Jews are responsible for oppressive apartheid-style policies.

With the worldwide Anglican communion on the brink of break-up over the authority of Scripture, particularly relating to sex and marriage, and church bodies queuing up behind the global move to isolate Israel through BDS, the C of E report is a surprising development.

For anti-Zionism is rife within today’s Western church, which means that repenting of the past must also convert to mending our modern ways of relating to Jews – as the report admittedly suggests. But we will never get rid of anti-Semitism while replacement theology – the idea that the church has replaced Israel in God’s purposes – continues to be widely taught. It’s not just Corbyn and his cronies who contribute to Jew-hatred, but also those churches who fail to see that a glorious future still awaits the chosen people! So will this report, appropriately named God’s Unfailing Word, change the climate surrounding our pulpits, where Israel rarely gets a mention – except perhaps in terms of the lessons taught by her historical misdemeanors or triumphs? Yet the Bible is liberally strewn with references to Israel in the context not just of history but of present and future reality. It is the third most used name in all of Scripture, after Adonai and Elohim.

But we repeatedly ignore it. Why? Because we have allowed ourselves to be sucked into a worldly view that the oppressed have become oppressors and that the nation which arose from the ashes of the Holocaust is not to be confused with the Jews of the Bible. This is what the South African Anglicans now officially claim, but I know it’s also the view of many UK pastors – probably, in no small measure, due to the Bible Colleges they attended.

So let’s examine the full implication of the report. If indeed the church is responsible in part for the Holocaust – the extermination of six million Jews just for being Jewish – it calls into question the true nature of such an organization. Likewise, if the Labour leadership has allowed anti-Semites into its midst, it surely calls into question the ethos of the entire party.

The Israel factor

It was when the early church severed its Jewish roots that we plunged into the Dark Ages, which lasted over a thousand years until the likes of Martin Luther saw the light. But even he perpetuated anti-Semitic tropes and caricatures as he wrote off the Jews as a despised people whom God had cast off, thus sowing the seeds of the Holocaust in the very nation he helped to create.

Yet without the Jews, we would have no Bible. No patriarchs, no prophets – and no Jesus! And God still has glorious plans for his ancient people, whom we Gentile Christians are commanded to support (Rom. 15.27), pray for (Psalm 122.6) and share the gospel with. It is, after all, “to the Jew first…” (Rom. 1.16).

It is of paramount importance that preachers urgently reconnect with the roots of our faith. For too long we have ignored Israel, with whom we share “the nourishing sap from the olive root” (Rom. 11.17) without which we will wither and die. Yes, we will dry up like the rotten tree that much of the institutional church has become, because, as the Apostle Paul scolded Gentile Christians: “You do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Rom. 11.18).

If we seek to proclaim the full counsel of God, we cannot possibly ignore the Israel factor. If we take the world’s side by cursing them, we will come under judgment. But if we rise up to encourage them, we will know untold blessing (Gen 12.3).

The Bible speaks of Israel – past, present and future – prophesying things to come which will surely take place there. Therefore, watch what is happening there so you can pray and preach in the light of Scripture.

We need to dig afresh into our Jewish roots. It should no longer be seen simply as an eccentric hobby engaged by zealous Zionists, but as an exercise to keep us alive!

1 Daily Mail, December 14th 2019

2 Daily Mail, November 26, 2019

3 Published by the Church’s Faith and Order Commission. While praising the report, Chief Rabbi Mirvis proposed that Christians should stop evangelizing the Jewish community. Source: Gateway News, November 22 2019.