An Anglican church in London hosted an evening of anti-Israel Christmas carols.
The “Bethlehem Now: Nine Alternative Lessons and Carols for Palestine” event, sponsored by a group called Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods & Open Bethlehem, took place Nov. 26 at the St. James church in Picadilly, in London’s West End. The money raised, about $15 per ticket, went to charities in Bethlehem.
A chorus called Pax Christi performed. According to British media reports, the “Twelve Days of Christmas Carol” was rewritten as: “Twelve assassinations / Eleven homes demolished / Ten wells obstructed / Nine sniper towers / Eight gunships firing / Seven checkpoints blocking / Six tanks a-rolling / Five settlement rings / Four falling bombs / Three trench guns / Two trampled doves / And an uprooted olive tree.”
“Once in David’s Royal City” became “Once in Royal David’s City / Stood a big apartheid wall / People entering and leaving / Had to pass a checkpoint hall / Bethlehem was strangulated / And her children segregated.”
After complaints from the current and past Archbishop of Canterbury as well as from Jewish groups, the church’s rector said he would “think twice” before hosting a similar event.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
