It goes without saying that Hiltz, along with other church dignitaries, is spluttering his indignation about the U.S. recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Most importantly, it’s because he hates Trump and all he stands for with a loathing as intense as his fawning love for Justin Trudeau, Canada’s pretty boy, a bleached version of Barack Obama. There is no hatred quite so caustic as that of a liberal Anglican clergyman encountering opposition laced with disagreement that’s less than good .
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, is calling for prayers for Jerusalem after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision December 6 to recognize the city as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv.
Hiltz, as Anglican Primate floats, as usual, blissfully above the demands that facts and reality impose on mere mortals. Thus, he declares that Trump has acted unilaterally, in spite of the fact that the U.S. congress voted to recognise Jerusalem as capital 22 years ago. Trump has done what every other president for the last 22 years has been putting off. This is very unAnglican: Anglicans have endless conversations when something comes up that they dislike.
Hiltz is also condemning Trump’s “unilateral action,” saying it has set off violence in the Holy Land.
Significantly, none of the clergy gnashing their collective teeth over this are interested in whether it is the right thing to do or not. Rather, they are motivated by pious pragmatism: will the recognition incite the usual lunatic elements to violence? After all, the Middle East has hitherto been so peaceful.
In a statement released Friday, December 8, Hiltz said he was joining a number of voices expressing “serious concerns” about Trump’s declaration. He cited a letter jointly issued by 13 heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem, including Archbishop Suheil Dawani, primate of the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, voicing disapproval and worry.
“We are certain that such steps will yield increased hatred, conflict, violence and suffering in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, moving us farther from the goal of unity and deeper toward destructive division,” the church leaders said in the letter, released shortly before Trump’s official announcement. “We ask from you Mr. President to help us all walk towards more love and a definitive peace, which cannot be reached without Jerusalem being for all.
“The Holy City can be shared and fully enjoyed once a political process helps liberate the hearts of all people, that live within it, from the conditions of conflict and destructiveness that they are experiencing.”
We have something to be thankful for in all this: politicians tend to ignore the opinions of effete clerics – just like everyone else:
But Trump, Hiltz said, chose “to ignore this wise and Godly counsel,” and went ahead with his declaration. “His unilateral action has unsettled the entire Middle East and plunged Jerusalem into chaos,” Hiltz continued.
Hiltz, it seems, has found a new word: “unilateral”. This is the third time he has used it. Incorrectly.
In an interview with the Anglican Journal Thursday, December 7, Hiltz said he felt Trump had acted in a characteristically “unilateral” and dangerous way in making his announcement.
What we really need are more conversations. How about a Middle East Indaba?
“There’s no sense of, you know, consultation, no sense of this having been a broader conversation. It’s Donald Trump being Donald Trump,” he said.
It gets worse: North Korea’s obsession with nuclear tipped ballistic missiles is Trump’s fault, too. Did I mention that Hiltz hates Trump?
“As with issues of concern on the Korean peninsula, his statements and his actions agitate, and they tend to stir things up in ways that, quite frankly, are not helpful,” Hiltz said. “It’s very worrisome in terms of how this could turn.”
The Anglican Church of Canada—like the government of Canada—Hiltz said, supports “a lasting peace process in which there is a state of Israel, but within which Palestinians also have a rightful place.”
Finally, we find out what is really bothering Hiltz – other than the fact that he is forced to live on the same planet as Trump. His free trip to Jerusalem might have to be cancelled.
Hiltz also said Trump’s announcement cast some doubt on whether he would still make a planned trip to Jerusalem this January to visit the Anglican primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East.
I am totally stunned by the actions of Fred Hiltz. The only thing that Donald Trump has done is to state specifically what a Israel has always stated. One can only ask him what his thoughts were when apostates such as Michael Ingham and Michael Bird evicted genuine orthodox Christians and legally stole the properties which in some cases were paid fully by the orthodox believers. Clearly he was on the front lines of the apostates. It is no wonder why the ACoC is in a rapid descent into the pit of apostasy.
I don’t get it. Jerusalem is already the capital of Israel. The US choice to recognize the blindingly obvious is – for better or worse – an entirely secular, diplomatic decision.
There’s simply no Christian angle here at all; the political status of Jerusalem is irrelevant to Christian theology. We should, at most, simply be concerned that Christians and Christian sites there are respected.*
And let me just say – as a Catholic peeking in on this site now and then – I admit that even the Vatican seems to have decided to become a meddlesome nuisance on this issue too.
* Frankly, they are much more likely to be respected by the Israelis than the Palestinians. The proof of that is the continued Islamist persecution of what remains of the Palestinian Christian community.
Tel Aviv is the internationally recognized capitol of Israel. Former Canadian PM Joe Clark was going to do the same in answer to a campaign promise after his election in 1979. He changed his mind and didn’t. Never heard of Joe Clarke? He didn’t last long as PM. He was a bit naive and a “ red Tory”
The capital of Israel is Jerusalem and has been since 1949. The location of a sovereign state’s capital is not subject to the foreign policy statements of other countries.
Foreign countries have no authority to tell another country which city to have as its capital. Israel says that Jerusalem is its capital, and so Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Refusing to accept this is like refusing to accept that Donald Trump is President of the United States of America.
Never forget the motto of the Palestinian Moslems : “FIRST WE DESTROY SATURDAY AND THEN WE DESTROY SUNDAY” .
I think it’s unwise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. Who will benefit? The State of Israel is happy about it but their hold on Jerusalem will not currently be improved by the move of the embassy. The Israeli grip on the whole of Jerusalem needs no strengthening. What’s wrong with waiting until Jordan and Israel sit down and reach an agreement? This being said, hearing Hiltz go on about it ad nauseaum tempts me to hope they go through with the move. Watching the reactions of triggered leftisttas the night of Trumps election has left me hungry for more. Hey! I didn’t vote for Trump.
What is wrong with waiting for Jordan and Israel to sit down and reach an agreement is that the Jordanians will never agree to recognize Israel. All muslims want Israel destroyed. And so waiting for any muslim to give any agreement on anything pertaining to Israel is just plain stupid.
A selection of hymns from the revised Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada
Tel Aviv (“And did those feet in ancient time ..”, Blake, Parry)
Tel Aviv the Golden (” .. with milk and honey blest ..”, John Mason Neale, Ewing)
Breaking news: 1st cc. Religious Spokesman issues statement regarding unilateral itinerant preacher Jesus:
“His statements and his actions agitate, and they tend to stir things up in ways that, quite frankly, are not helpful,” Religious Spokesman said. “It’s very worrisome in terms of how this could turn.”
Well there is always the free trip to Gaza as an alternative:
both ACC and TEC Primates already had traveled there together by camel, in Cultural Marxist ‘solidarity’;
not to be confused with either the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, by donkey;
or the one in flight to Egypt, by donkey;
or the one down the Mount of Olives, also by donkey.
Jerusalem belongs to the descendents of father Abraham – the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians. But the earthly Jerusalem is not the same as the heavenly Jerusalem.