Priest Accused Of Antisemitism Over 9/11 Conspiracy Posts

A Church of England priest has been accused of causing “profound offence to Jews” after he shared conspiracy theories online, which suggested that Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks.

The Rev Dr Stephen Sizer appeared at an ecclesiastical disciplinary tribunal in London yesterday (the first one of its kind), where he denied the charges against him.

According to The Times:

Complaints were made to the Church of England by the Board of Deputies of British Jews, whose president, Marie van der Zyl, gave evidence.

If a church court finds against a priest, possible punishments range from a rebuke to a ban from the priesthood. Church tribunals under the Clergy Discipline Measure are usually held behind closed doors, but Sizer had the right to request that his hearings be open to the public and press, a right that had not been taken up before.

Sizer, who was ordained in 1984 and was a vicar at Christ Church in Virginia Water, Surrey, “absolutely and resolutely denies” that his behaviour was antisemitic or amounted to misconduct, the court was told.

Court documents list allegations that Sizer attended a London conference at which a Hezbollah politician spoke in 2005; that he met with a “senior commander of Hezbollah forces” in 2006; that he spoke at a conference in Indonesia at which a Holocaust denier also spoke in 2008; and that he “promoted the idea that Israel was behind the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 by posting a link in January 2015 to an article entitled ‘9/11: Israel did it’ that blamed Israel for the attacks”.

He is also accused of posting on Facebook in 2018 that Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, was “a victim of the hidden hands of Zionists”.

Nicholas Leviseur, presenting the case against Sizer, told St Andrew’s Court that he was accused of “conduct unbecoming and inappropriate for a clerk in holy orders” and told the tribunal chairman, David Pittaway QC, that Sizer’s behaviour went “far beyond” normal political commentary or activities.

Leviseur added: “Dr Sizer does not appear to deny that the 11 events . . . occurred. But he says in some cases what he said or did has been misunderstood or misrepresented.”

Leviseur said that, in a social media post sharing an article about supposed Israeli involvement in 9/11, Sizer wrote: “Is this antisemitic? If so, no doubt I’ll be asked to remove it.

It raises so many questions.” Leviseur said that it was unrealistic to suggest Sizer “didn’t realise [it would] provoke and offend members of the Jewish community and would do so profoundly”.

Stephen Hofmeyr QC, representing Sizer, said that the priest had said “repeatedly, unreservedly and very publicly that . . . antisemitism must be repudiated unequivocally” in his writings about “Christian Zionism”, and had written that: “Legitimate criticism of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians must not be used as an excuse for racism or attacks against Jewish people.”

He added: “[Sizer’s] case is that he is not antisemitic and that his words or conduct never have been antisemitic….”

Van der Zyl said that a priest should not have attended events with Hezbollah figures or Holocaust deniers and alleged it showed a “concerning pattern of behaviour”.

She rejected Hofmeyr’s suggestion that the Board of Deputies represented only a minority of British Jews and said it was “not a mouthpiece for Israel”, adding that it had criticised Israeli policies.

She said of the allegations: “It’s all really distressing. It’s so shocking that it comes from somebody in the Church of England . . . You need to understand the emotion, upset and distress caused to the [Jewish] community.”

A man faces being banned from the priesthood because he shared a link to an article about 9/11 and because he attended some events.

He has stated unequivocally that antisemitism is evil and that the actions of the Israeli government mustn’t be used to justify attacks on Jewish people. He is hardly antisemitic.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews does NOT represent British Jewry. It’s not simply a mouthpiece for the state of Israel either, it acts as Israel’s attack dog in the UK.

The organisation has in the past warned people not to appear on The Richie Allen Show, because I once interviewed a holocaust denier.

The ecclesiastical tribunal must find in favour of Dr. Stephen Sizer.

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