The Church of England Newspaper hits the nail squarely on the head in its eminently decent editorial comment on the Synod vote to support disinvestment in Caterpillar because its machines have been used by Israel to bulldoze Palestinian homes:

This Synodical act can hardly be read as even-handed in approach. The state of Israel emerges as a rogue state, oppressing Palestinians and not interested in brokering a fair two-state solution. Synod fails to put the situation into any historical context, even as far as the Arafat-Barak agreement facilitated by Bill Clinton setting up a Palestinian state, immediately broken by Arafat in favour of constant insurrection.

No wonder many in the UK and Europe were distinctly queasy at this foray into international politics by the members of General Synod. Is this assembly really equipped to make judgements on such very complex problems? The motion would be better placed in a university or school debating chamber rather than a Church. What has emerged looks one-sided and simplistic, possibly hindering Israeli efforts to make a stable peace. Again, Synod has lived up to a reputation for shadowing the Guardian newspaper in its political orientation and preferred topics of condemnation. Has Synod pronounced on Zimbabwe, genocide in the Sudan, persecution and oppression in China and the Middle East? Indeed Anglican dignitaries rushed to the letters columns after the murderous attack on the ‘twin-towers’ on ‘9/11’ to exculpate the bombers by seeking the reasons for their hatred of the West. No great rush by our new-found experts on global politics to express exculpatory reasons for Israeli bulldozing is evident. If Synod wants to become a sort of amateur United Nations body, it might investigate the misuse of cash poured into the Palestinian Authority, maintaining abject poverty for many.

It might indeed. It is heartening to see such a principled Christian response.