Press Releases
B’nai B’rith International has written to Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby—leader of the 85 million-member global Anglican Communion—to express alarm about a statement in which he “welcomed” a recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion on Israel. In the Aug. 2 communique, the archbishop said last month’s court opinion “makes definitively clear that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful.” Moreover, reiterating concern for Palestinian Christians, he singled out Israel as responsible for “systemic discrimination” and denying Palestinians’ “dignity, freedom and hope.”
Israel is the “Middle East’s sole pluralistic democracy,” B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin and Director of U.N. and Intercommunal Affairs David J. Michaels wrote to the Anglican leader.
It is also the rare Middle Eastern country where the Christian population has continually grown.
In their letter, Mariaschin and Michaels recounted Israel’s exhaustive efforts for peace and coexistence—as well as Iran-led aspirations to destroy the Jewish state and its diverse citizenry.
“Your Grace,” they asked, “does the omission of these facts not amount to ‘selective’ treatment, and does the perennial assault on the humanity, equality and very lives of Jewish and other Israelis not qualify as discrimination and the withholding of dignity, freedom and hope?”
“Is combating this assault not also a ‘legal and moral necessity’ worthy of emphasizing?”