The governing body of the Church of England voted to support a pro-Palestinian group dedicated to the demonization of Israel on July 9. The General Synod passed a motion to endorse the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel (eappi), a group that blames Israel for the failure of the peace process and calls for a boycott of the country as well as the hacking of government websites and a sit-in at Israel’s embassies. The motion was endorsed by 201 votes to 54, with 93 abstentions.

“eappi is a one-sided advocacy group promoting the Durban strategy of boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel, supporting the Palestinian claim of a ‘right of return,’ which is code for ending Israeli sovereignty, and systematically ignoring continuous Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians—each one a war crime,” said Yitzhak Santis, the chief programs officer at the Jerusalem-based charity ngo Monitor.

The synod’s decision has put a major stumbling block in the way of relations between Anglicans and Jews. The leading organization representing Jews in the country, Board of Deputies of British Jews, condemned the vote. President of the board Vivan Winman said that “to hear the debate at Synod littered with references to ‘powerful lobbies,’ the money expended by the Jewish community, ‘Jewish-sounding names’ and the actions of the community ‘bringing shame on the memory of victims of the Holocaust’ is deeply offensive and raises serious questions about the motivation of some of those behind this motion.”

The Israeli Embassy also criticized the motion. “Christians face rising persecution across the region and yet, by supporting this group, the Church of England has chosen to amplify one-sided voices and to single out Israel—the only country [in the Middle East and North Africa] where Christian rights are enshrined and the Christian population is growing,” said a spokesman.

“For years now, the Church of England has been playing with anti-Jewish theological fire,” warned British columnist Melanie Phillips. “Its close links with radical Palestinian Christians have kick-started the ancient and previously wholly discredited Christian calumny of ‘replacement theology,’ which holds that by rejecting Jesus the Jews forfeited the love of God, who as a result transferred to the Christians all the promises He had previously made to the Jews.”

The church’s decision is largely symbolic, but it will color relations between Britain and Israel. It shows there is a strong anti-Israel bias within the so-called great and the good of Britain—the supposedly moral leaders of the nation. It also shows the waning of the Church of England. This isn’t the church’s only farcical foray into foreign policy. Last month, the church attacked the government’s European policy, insisting the nation must integrate more closely with the European Union.

This sundering of ties between Britain and Israel is part of a key Bible prophecy. Unable to rely on its traditional Anglo-American allies, Israel will turn to a Catholic-dominated Europe for help. This will lead to war in the Middle East.

For more information on this vital prophecy, see our article “Band of Brothers.”