Norfolk bishop supports ‘shameful’ vote condemned by Chief Rabbi

A Norfolk bishop who warned antisemitism was “virulent” voted for the Church of England to “engage with” a document describing Israel as a “colonial enterprise based on racism” and accusing it of “genocide”.

Rt Rev Graham Usher, the bishop of Norwich, supported the motion at the General Synod which has prompted outrage among British Jews.

Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, said the vote was “shameful”, while Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies, said it undermined the Church’s efforts to tackle antisemitism.

Bishop Graham – who wrote an article for this newspaper earlier this year describing antisemitism as a “scourge and a form of evil that must be confronted in all its manifestations” – was one of 25 bishops to vote in favour of the motion to “hear” a document called Kairos II.

Read it all in the Eastern Daily Press