Absolute moral squalor on display at a London church

‘Did Israel spoil Christmas again?’ I only ask because the claim that they did is becoming a modern tradition in Britain.

The softest and most commonplace expression of the claim comes from those vicars or congregation members who claim that they find it ‘hard’ to sing ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ nowadays because of how dreadful the situation in Bethlehem is today compared with how little, still and dreamlessly sleepy it was back in Jesus’s time.

This Christmas I had already attended one church which perpetuated this new conceit. And earlier this week I went to the church of St James in Piccadilly, which has made anti-Israeli propaganda its signature dish in recent years.

The central London church has previously hosted events where opponents of Israel go to sing versions of carols which decry the Jewish state. But this year they have outdone themselves by building a replica of the security fence which Israel built in order to successfully stop a spate of suicide-bombings carried out by Palestinian terrorists. The London church is made almost invisible by the replica ‘barrier’ and this is meant to represent the way in which Bethlehem today is ‘cut off’ by the security fence. The ‘installation’, surrounding exhibition and events is called ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped.’

As it happens, I have seen much of the real security fence, passed through the checkpoints many times and been to Bethlehem and most of the rest of the West Bank. I have spent time talking with Muslim and Christian Palestinians. So I also turned up in London, spent some time looking around, read the displays and the graffiti people are invited to write on the wall, and spoke with volunteers from the church. All in all I would say that a morning spent there is a good way to understand one modern variant of absolute moral squalor. Only