I wonder how anti-Israel Christian Arab leaders feel about Ahmadinejad’s threats to destroy Israel? Bishops Riah and Sabbah might like to see the end of the Jewish State - but they live there. If it is incinerated, they too will be fried to a nuclear crisp. I wonder if that thought was lurking somewhere in the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem’s head when he spoke in London recently?

According to Christian Today, Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal describes the two state solution as the “only way forward”.

Admittedly, Bishop Riah wants one of the two states to stop defending itself from the other state by removing its anti-terrorist barrier. Also, he would like a UN ‘peace force’ to protect Palestinians from Israeli self-defence, but not to protect Israelis from Palestinian aggression. Maybe he’s looking beyond a two state solution to a one-state-unable-to-defend-itself-which-then-
disappears solution. But then the Iranian madman is looking for a non-state solution, which would have uncomfortable implications for the Bishop.

His words seem fairly mild by his usual standards. He was speaking at a conference which “was held by the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain and was organised in association with the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and the Universal Peace Federation.”

Other speakers included John Rose (Author of The Myths of Zionism and Israel: the Hijack State), and also Brian Klug, whose dialogue with Robert Wistrich on the subject of criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism is of interest.

What kind of role does anti-Semitism play in the Middle East Conflict? At what point does opposition to Israel turn into anti-Semitism? These issues are discussed by Brian Klug, British philosopher and journalist, and Robert Wistrich, director of the International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem.

But back to the madman of Iran. When are we going to hear Bishops Riah and Sabbah protesting about his nuclear ambitions, which threaten them and their flocks? Or will they continue to obsessively blame Israel for everything, even as they are about to turn to episcopal dust?