Australia’s church head blasts Israel

By · December 12, 2007

The leader of the Anglican Church in Australia has blasted Israel’s separation barrier.

Anglican Primate Phillip Aspinall, who just completed a nine-day mission to Israel with Australian church leaders, told ABC Radio from Jerusalem on Wednesday that the barrier, built to defend Israelis from suicide bombers, is “inhumane.”

“Our concern is that in [securing Israelis’ lives], they don’t then oppress another group of people and behave in an inhumane way to another group, and I think the wall and some of the restrictions imposed on the Palestinians have that inhumane effect,” he said.

Jewish leaders accused the high-powered delegation, organized by the National Council of Churches in Australia, of spending most of its time in the West Bank.

The group did meet with Israeli leaders, including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, but toured Jenin, Hebron and Bethlehem, and visited a refugee camp.

The Catholic News reported that the trip “has enabled the delegates to see first-hand the suffering and human rights violations of Palestinians due to the ‘apartheid’ separation wall and the squalid condition inside the refugee camps.”

Representatives of the Catholic Church, Uniting Church and Baptist Church also participated in the mission.