Methodist preacher Sues His Church Over Israel

A Methodist preacher is suing his own church over what he calls their anti-Israel bias.

The Methodist Convention passed a resolution supporting the boycott of some Israeli goods. Preacher David Hallam says that with the Methodist Church not having any churches in Israel or the Occupied Territories, the involvement of the Church in supporting a boycott, and spending towards the anti-Israel campaign money that was collected in the plates, is obviously only due to anti-Israel bias. Many other countries, Hallam says, have far worse human rights violations than Israel does, and the church has not taken any action against them.

David Hallam, who preaches in Methodist churches around Birmingham, has accused his own church of wasting funds to pursue a vendetta against Israel. There are no Methodist churches in either Israel or the Occupied Territories.
Mr Hallam, 62, a former labour MEP, said: "What I object to is money which I am putting on the collection plate on a Sunday being used to fund a political campaign against the Jewish state. This is both discriminatory and a misuse of a charity's funds.
"The Methodist Church seems to think it has a God given right to tell Jews how to run their affairs. It is very disturbing we are getting involved in a territory where we don't have any members or churches."
Mr Hallam has recruited Paul Diamond, a barrister with expertise in human rights law and religious law, to bring the case.
Mr Diamond will argue that the Methodist resolution passed in the summer is in breach of European human rights law and a wide-ranging European Union directive on racism.
By singling out Israel, rather than other countries with often worse human rights records, Mr Diamond will claim the church is being deliberately prejudiced against the Jewish state.
Last week the Methodist Church defended the resolution, pointing out the boycott was only of goods made in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
The church said the stance was supported by Palestinian Christians and denied any suggestion the move was racist or discriminatory against Jews.

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