Leading Christian nonprofits, known for their anti-Israel advocacy, have applauded Britain’s sanctions against Israel, after lobbying the Labour government for almost two years to punish the Jewish state for its “long-standing violations of international law.”
Hours after Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions against Israel on September 8, 2026, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and Christian Aid released statements welcoming the penalties.
Christian Aid, which identifies itself as “the official relief, development and advocacy agency of 41 sponsoring churches in Britain and Ireland, and part of the church community worldwide,” praised the “ban on importing goods from illegal Israeli settlements as an important step in confronting the forcible displacement of Palestinians from their land.”
Speaking in the House of Lords, [Archbishop of York Stephen] Cottrell, England’s second-most senior bishop, noted that “further measures” may be needed against Israel.
While Chief Rabbi Efraim Mirvis condemned the sanctions as a “dark day for British Jews,” prominent Anglican bishops, including Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Gloucester Rachel Treweek, and Bishop of Chelmsford Guli Francis-Dehqani, joined the Islamist-linked Muslim Council of Britain in commending the sanctions.
Speaking in the House of Lords, Cottrell, England’s second-most senior bishop, noted that “further measures” may be needed against Israel. “We’ve called for such principled action over many years,” he said. “We believe these measures are just necessary and frankly overdue.”
Treweek called Miliband’s statement “brave and courageous,” noting that his “strong words lay out clear action, which is neither binary nor zero-sum, and reflect God’s justice, love and mercy.” Francis-Dehqani urged the government to implement sanctions with “necessary urgency” alongside “an assessment of additional measures” to deter Israel’s E1 settlement project.
The Church of England and the Christian nonprofits, which operate globally, have a track record of activism against the Jewish state.
In July 2026, the Church of England’s General Synod approved Kairos II, a Palestinian manifesto condemning Israel as a Jewish supremacist state and defending Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre as the consequence of Israeli occupation.
Just before the Synod vote, Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally sparked controversy after championing anti-Israel activists linked to terrorist organizations and praising their “faithful resistance” on her pilgrimage to the Holy Land from June 19–24, 2026.
Christian Aid and CAFOD have lobbied the government for sanctions against Israel over the past two years. In September 2024, both charities signed a letter to the Business and Trade Secretary calling for urgent review of trade relations with Israel.
In September 2025, both charities published a report titled “Trading with Illegal Settlements: How Foreign States and Corporations Enable Israel’s Illegal Settlement Enterprise.” It called for laws banning all trade, investments, and services “with businesses that are based in or operate from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.”
In January 2025, Christian Aid urged the United Kingdom to “challenge the occupation,” including “a ban on any trade and investment with Israeli Settlements.” In February 2025, it submitted seven pages of evidence to the United Kingdom’s Foreign Affairs Committee, demanding a review of the British-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, “in response to Israel’s internationally wrongful acts.”
The “sustained demonization” of these nonprofits “is central in moving the discourse on settlement trade from the margins into parliamentary proceedings and government policy discussions,” NGO Monitor stated in a report published on September 8, 2026.
The success of these nongovernmental organizations in colluding with the government to sanction the Jewish state also demonstrates their influence on London policymaking regarding Israel and their affinity with the Labour Party.
There is no record of the Anglican bishops, CAFOD, or Christian Aid calling for sanctions against other nations committing human rights abuses.
NGO Monitor reports link Christian Aid funding for the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which has close ties to the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, founded by George Habash, whom Time christened “Terrorism’s Christian Godfather.”
Similarly, CAFOD has provided grants to several “highly biased and politicized NGOs active in the Arab-Israeli conflict,” including Islamic Relief Worldwide, a charity that the United Arab Emirates included in its list of designated terrorist entities in 2014.
There is no record of the Anglican bishops, CAFOD, or Christian Aid calling for sanctions against other nations committing human rights abuses, including India and China, whose government and legislation targets Christians, or Nigeria and Sudan, where jihadi massacres of Christians increase.
In response to the sanctions, Anglican theologian Ian Paul compiled a list of 17 countries, noting that “the US State Department’s country-report system” documents human rights issues from Egypt to Bangladesh. “Not only are we not thinking about pursuing sanctions on any of these countries, [but] we are seeking to develop appeasing relations with them,” even though Israel is “the only democracy in the region, and the only one which gives full democratic rights to its minorities,” including Arabs, women, and sexual minorities, he wrote.
