King Charles Needs to Wake Up: The Church of England Chose Antisemitism

This article was originally posted on the Makor Rishon in August 2026. 

The Church of England apologized for years for its role in the persecution of Jews, but has now promoted a document that denies Israel’s legitimacy. King Charles cannot remain silent.

For years, the Church of England apologized for its painful and bloodstained history in its relations with the Jewish people. The Church acknowledged that its conduct contributed to the creation of a climate in which Jews were excluded, vilified, and persecuted. It apologized for the anti-Jewish laws of the Middle Ages, expressed regret for centuries of theological contempt, and worked to promote reconciliation with Britain’s Jewish community.

Yet despite those apologies, the Church recently voted to grant status and weight to a document that promotes antisemitism and hatred toward Jews and Zionism. By an overwhelming majority, the Church’s governing body, composed of bishops, clergy, and lay representatives, voted to bring the document “Kairos Palestine II” for discussion throughout the Church.

The document portrays Israel as a racist and colonialist enterprise and attributes “genocide” to the very establishment of the State of Israel. The House of Bishops approved the motion by 25 votes to none, with five abstentions. The House of Clergy supported it by 115 votes to 20, and the House of Laity approved it by 113 votes to 27.

The Church’s hypocrisy cries out to heaven. The Synod’s vote is a blatant repudiation of the Church’s 2018 decision to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, known as the IHRA definition. This definition includes, as an example of antisemitism, the claim that the very existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor. Regrettably, that is precisely the message of “Kairos Palestine II.”

The document declares that the State of Israel is a racist and colonialist enterprise, bound up with genocide from its inception. The decision to promote “Kairos Palestine II” adds fuel to the fire of antisemitism spreading around Britain’s Jewish community. In 2022, the British government recorded 1,662 antisemitic incidents. By 2024, the number had nearly tripled.

In the current climate, synagogues in Britain are required to implement unprecedented security measures. Jewish schools look like fortified compounds. Jewish-owned businesses have been vandalized. Jewish students conceal their identity on university campuses. Families think twice before wearing a kippah or a Star of David in public. At demonstrations, open declarations of support for terrorist organizations are heard alongside calls for Israel’s destruction.

At moments like these, the British public is entitled to expect its leaders to demonstrate clarity and resolve. Yet instead of taking an unequivocal stand against antisemitism, the Church’s leadership granted the document moral authority and legitimacy. In practice, the Church provided further encouragement for hatred of Jews in Britain.

Britain once produced leaders who understood that defending the Jewish people’s right to national self-determination was both sound policy and a moral duty. More than a quarter of a century before the establishment of the State of Israel, Winston Churchill declared:

“I believe that the establishment of a Jewish National Home in the Land of Israel will be a blessing to the entire world, a blessing to the British Empire, and a blessing to the Jewish people themselves.”

Where are the heirs to Churchill’s leadership today?

The consequences of the Church leaders’ vote extend far beyond the world of theology. The Church of England is Britain’s established church, and 26 of its bishops sit in the House of Lords as the “Lords Spiritual.” They participate in debates, influence legislation, and vote on it. They shape Britain’s national discourse on foreign policy, human rights, and international law.

The bishops who voted unanimously in favor of promoting the antisemitic document sit in Parliament and influence legislation by virtue of their religious authority. King Charles III is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The King has spoken repeatedly in support of tolerance, mutual respect, and the fight against hatred. In January 2025, at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the King warned of the “dangerous re-emergence of antisemitism” and called on all of us “never to be a bystander in the face of violence and hate.”

In May 2026, the King explicitly declared: “My Government will take urgent action to tackle antisemitism and ensure all communities feel safe.”

The King cannot remain silent now, when the Church he heads is abandoning the principles he has articulated in the fight against antisemitism. The King must not be “a bystander.” He must take “urgent action” and publicly criticize the Synod’s shameful vote. He must continue to lead the Church back to its proper place as a moral institution that opposes antisemitism.

The State of Israel must also act, and more forcefully, through public diplomacy. The Israeli Embassy in Britain has already condemned “Kairos II,” describing it as “a deeply troubling text that denies the legitimacy of the State of Israel” and warning that the recommendation to promote it could create “a more tolerant environment for antisemitism.”

In addition, the Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires, Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, met directly with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally. During the meeting, Grudsky Ekstein stated explicitly that the document erases Jewish history and promotes a fundamentally distorted narrative.

Israel and its allies, however, must do more. They must emphasize that “Kairos II” violates the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which the Church itself adopted. They must demand that any discussion of the document be accompanied by mandatory training in adherence to IHRA principles. They must support pro-Israel Christian initiatives such as “A Christian Declaration Against Kairos II,” a counter-movement led by British pastors and theologians who publicly rejected the document and described it as “inaccurate, one-sided, and dangerous.”

They must also expose the extremism of “Kairos II,” including its justification of the October 7 attacks on the grounds that they were “born out of decades of injustice.” In this way, it will be possible to make clear to the broader churchgoing public that the document goes far beyond the concerns of a peace-seeking church.

Attorney Michael Ehrenstein is a founding partner at the U.S. law firm Ehrenstein|Sager, which specializes in commercial law, complex litigation, and international arbitration in high-stakes disputes.