To be anti-Israel is to be antisemitic. This is a truth many nations have today accepted.

Sadly, many Christian denominations are lagging behind, and have instead joined wholeheartedly with efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state.

See: Christian Groups Protest Move by Presbyterian Church (USA) Accusing Israel of Apartheid

This week in London, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Ephraim Mirvis lamented that the Methodist Church is similarly treading the path of this new antisemitism.

This is particularly unnerving considering the role the Methodist Church played in Britain’s initial facilitation of Israel’s restoration. More than a hundred years before that, the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, penned notes and published hymns happily looking forward to the day the Jews would again rule the Holy Land, making him an early “Christian Zionist.”

But the Methodist Church today is going in a different direction.

In its 2022 conference booklet, the Methodist Church stated that “the conference therefore invites the Methodist people to support the above measures in relation to boycott, divestment and sanctions until such time as Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and complies with the precepts of international law.”

Rabbi Mirvis responded on social media:

Deeply saddened to learn that @MethodistGB Conference has again voted in favour of BDS, further eroding relations with the Jewish community. BDS does not in any way advance the cause of peace. The Methodist community should invest in constructive engagement with Israeli society.

— Chief Rabbi Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) July 1, 2022

The rabbi added:

“BDS does not in any way advance the cause of peace. I call on the Methodist community to invest its efforts instead in constructive engagement with Israel and its society.”

With reporting by JNS.