Israeli envoy to Britain Ron Prosor has charged the Church of England with negligence in allowing a church parody of the Twelve Days of Christmas that mocks Israel, The Times of London reported.

 

The carol at the St. James's Church on London includes the lyrics, "Twelve assassinations/Eleven homes demolished/Ten wells obstructed/Nine sniper towers/Eight gunships firing/Seven checkpoints blocking/Six tanks a-rolling/Five settlement rings. Four falling bombs/Three trench guns/Two trampled doves/And an uprooted olive tree."

 

Prosor told the Times, "It was appalling to see a church allow one of its most endearing seasonal traditions to be hijacked by hatred. Unfortunately, the criticism from within the Church of England, that should have echoed with bold moral clarity, has instead sounded like a silent night, but far from holy."

 

The envoy added that Hamas terrorists would give Santa Claus a "frosty reception" if he were to appear in Bethlehem. Tens of thousands of Christians have fled the Bethlehem area the past few years because of Hamas and Fatah hostility to Christians, but the Palestinian Authority has blamed Israeli policies for the exodus.

Terrorists would give Santa Claus a "frosty reception" if he were to appear in Bethlehem.

 

The Times stated that Prosor has demanded that the church should have chosen to speak out against terrorism. Anti-Israel activists, including one liberal Jewish group, also rewrote the carol Once in Royal David's City with the lyric, "Once in royal David’s city stood a big apartheid wall…"

 

The alternative service, held in late November, included nine lessons and carols organized by the Jewish Boycotting Israeli Goods organization and the pro-Arab Open Bethlehem group.

 

Lord Carey of Clifton, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, was one of the few Christian leaders who spoke out openly against the event, according to the Times. He said in a lecture that anti-Semitism and hostility to Jews remain beneath the surface in British society.

 

"Such actions strengthen an anti-Israeli agenda, trivialize the political issues and nourish an anti-Semitic culture," he told the London Jewish Cultural center Wednesday. "This is not because it is wrong to criticize Israeli policy but because such campaigns single out Israel alone for particular opprobrium and censure it above regimes elsewhere in the world which are genocidal in intent and oppressive to the extreme."