As Australia sinks to unprecedented levels of antisemitism – worse that some Islamic nations experience – Christian leaders there are fighting back with calls for the Church to wake up and defend Israel.
Rev Martin Weatherston, of Geraldton, Western Australia, said news that the Church of England synod had betrayed Israel by accusing them of genocide is not just an issue for Anglicans.
It represents an about turn from 19th century evangelicals ‘hearing’ the Lord’s plan for a homeland for the Jewish people to ‘hearing’ a document lambasting the modern state and denouncing Zionism as a heresy. (‘Hearing’ was the word used for adopting the so-called Kairos Palestine II motion).
The Australian position also represents a shocking turnaround from the time ANZAC soldiers paved the way for Jewish restoration at the Battle of Beersheba in 1917.
South African-born Weatherston is national director of the Australia, New Zealand and India branch of CMJ (the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people) and endorses the title of Australian colleague Kelvin Crombie’s latest book, Jesus is the Real Zionist.
Meanwhile Israel’s Ambassador to Australia Hillel Newman reports that he has never seen such levels of hatred for Jews as he is witnessing there now.
He previously served as ambassador to Muslim nations Uzbekistan and Tajikistan yet did not see these levels of hatred there. In fact, antisemitism Down Under had increased by over 300 percent in the year following the October 7th 2023 massacre, the greatest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.
This included a rally of Muslims screaming a chant referring to Muhammad’s medieval massacre of the Jews of Khaybar. And it was followed by the country’s Grand Mufti, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, signing a fatwa (a ruling by Muslim scholars) declaring that it is “obligatory for all Muslims and Muslim nations to engage in jihad (holy war) against the Zionist entity and all those collaborating with it.”
All of which paved the way for last year’s Bondi Beach massacre during the Jewish Hanukkah festival.
The situation became so dire that Australia’s spy chief Mike Burgess identified antisemitism as the biggest security threat to the nation.
Referring to the everlasting covenant God has made with Israel (Genesis 15:18, Genesis 17:8), Weatherston added: “Of all people, Christians should understand that, if the Lord cannot be trusted to keep the covenant he made with Israel, how can we trust him to keep the promises he has made to us?
“We deplore the resurgence of antisemitism wherever it shows its ugly head, including Australia where Islamic extremism explicitly called for attacks on Jews and Christians during their holidays and gatherings and prioritized religious targets like synagogues and churches.”
Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; To the Jew First, A Nation Reborn, and King of the Jews, all available from Christian Publications International.
