IHRC condemns the inquisitorial witchhunt against Dr Stephen Sizer, the Anglican priest who will appear before a Church of England disciplinary Tribunal today to answer charges of anti=Semitism.

As a lifelong campaigner for Palestinian rights and other anti-racist causes we consider the case against him to be perverse and another example of the weaponisation of anti-Semitism to silence critics of Israel.

That the source of the complaint is The Board of Deputies of British Jews, which claims to represent British Jewry but in reality serves as a mouthpiece for the Israeli state, says everything one needs to know about the credibility of the accusations against him.

This is the second time that Dr. Sizer has been hauled before a religious tribunal at the instigation of the Board of Deputies. A previous complaint was resolved by conciliation in 2013.

Dr. Sizer is a renowned expert and critic of Christian Zionism who has written extensively on the issue, supporting Palestinian Christians while his own Anglican Church has chosen to acquiesce in Israel apartheid and war crimes.

It is a matter of shame that the Church of England is not only failing in its moral duty to oppose apartheid but is actively persecuting those within its own house who do so.

Like many others we find it repulsive that the Church of England is using the stick of anti-Semitism to beat Dr. Sizer for speaking out against Israeli injustices when in fact it should be reflecting on its own role in perpetuating Palestinian suffering.

We stand alongside Dr. Sizer in his hour of need.

A daily review of the tribunal proceedings will be posted on the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Commission’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/scottishpsc

For more information or comment please contact IHRC media on 0208 904 4222 (option 6) or media@ihrc.org [ENDS]