Father Barry Matthews: ‘Let us not use the church for a place of political statement.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A few dozen anti-Israel protesters disrupted Sunday mass at a northern Ireland cathedral on Sunday.

Thirty protesters carrying placards and pictures of Gazan civilians marched down the aisle during the communion service in an attempt to “highlight the silence from the Catholic church on genocide in Palestine.”

Some of the placards said, “Silence is violence” and “Jesus was a Palestinian.”

Following the service, the priest was critical of the protesters using mass as an opportunity for a “photo opportunity.”

Father Barry Mathews said the church is “not a political organization, rather we are an organization who trusts in God’s plan and trusts God is present.”

He pointed out that the church had made donations for the children of Gaza, but “We don’t use Mass as an opportunity for a quick snapshot,” he said.

“Let us not use the church for a place of political statement,” he added.

The priest’s remarks were greeted with a round of applause from the congregants.

One of the protesters, Deirdre Murphy Linder, said she and the other demonstrators want “to know why the church, the Christian churches are silent.”

“They were very vocal when Russia invaded Ukraine, and rightly so, their condemnation was extremely strong,” she added.

Linder said that the church service needed to be disrupted because “We are waiting 14 months, looking at horrific images and a genocide.”

Israel insists its actions are taken in self-defense, its actions are implemented to minimize the number of casualties, and that it is not committing genocide, as some allege.

An Armagh Archdiocese spokesperson said Monday that the organization was sympathetic to the plight of the Gazans, but “Disrupting the sacred liturgy in any way is upsetting and an inappropriate form of protest.”

However, Murphy Linder insisted that interrupting the service was appropriate and said her group was a “cross-community Christians” who held a “silent a dignified procession at the end of communion.”

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“Where I saw anything against the Jewish community, it was coming from the EU,” said former Northern Ireland secretary of state Brandon Lewis. 

By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News

The European Union tried to block Jewish access to kosher food in Northern Ireland, the country’s former secretary said in response to allegations made by British Conservative leadership contender Liz Truss about the “woke” civil service.

Truss last week said “wokeism” in the civil service has led to “creeping antisemitism.”

Sky News‘ Niall Paterson queried former Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis about the claims of “widespread” antisemitism in the civil service, asking, “Where is it?”

Lewis, now the Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth, answered: “Where I saw anything against the Jewish community, it was coming from the EU who were trying to block the Jewish community of Northern Ireland from getting access to kosher products.”

Truss “outlined that she came against challenges in the Foreign Office about having to deal with some of these issues. She broke through that,” he went on.

“Where I saw anything against the Jewish community it was coming from the EU who were trying to block the Jewish community of Northern Ireland from getting access to kosher products. That’s what dealing with the Northern Ireland protocol was all about,” he added.

Truss’ allegations prompted outrage from civil service union leaders and Labour MPs, who attacked her comments.

Last year, the Jewish community in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s only surviving Jewish community, suffered meat shortages, which were attributed to post-Brexit paperwork, the UK Jewish Chronicle reported at the time.

Patterson on Monday pressed Lewis, saying that every civil servant he had spoken to had refuted Truss’s claims of antisemitism.

Lewis said: “I don’t think that’s the point she was making at all. The Liz Truss I’ve worked with, whether it’s on Northern Ireland issues or defending and protecting the Jewish community has been absolutely at the forefront of what is right.”

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During a visit to Belfast’s synagogue, the prime minister pledged to fix the situation.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged Monday to help the Northern Ireland Jewish community overcome problems regarding delivery of kosher meat caused by post-Brexit bureaucracy.

During a visit to Belfast’s one and only synagogue, Johnson called the level of red tape “insane” and said he was “heartily sickened” by the situation that was leaving families short of a basic need.

“There is simply no need for such laborious checks on products uniquely important to the Jewish community being moved from Great Britain into Northern Ireland,” he said.

“We will see this situation resolved,” he vowed.

When Great Britain broke away from the EU two years ago, its territory on the northern tip of Ireland stayed in the European Single Market in relation to goods, and the subsequent problems related to border controls has been an ongoing issue between the two sides.

The Belfast Jewish Community Synagogue imports chicken and meat in bulk several times a year from Manchester, as the 500-strong Jewish population cannot support a local kosher slaughterhouse. Considering the community’s size, the amount it requires is not large, but small suppliers have even more difficulty than larger ones in cutting through the bureaucracy.

The community’s leaders have complained several times about the difficulty receiving goods from across the Irish Sea. Community chairman Michael Black told the Jewish News in February that it has been “very embarrassing having to push this issue” with government officials but they will continue to “rattle cages” if necessary.

Last year, Rev. David Kale, rabbi of the Belfast synagogue, asked that an exemption be made on the import controls based on religious grounds.

Kale told The Jewish Chronicle that the community was “very honored” that the prime minister had taken the time to visit them during his time in the capital and found him “very sympathetic” to their cause.

The post-Brexit trade problems between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in general were a large part of the reason Johnson visited Belfast.  The Catholic, nationalist Sinn Fein party won the elections earlier this month, but according to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to the region, it must share power with the Protestant, pro-U.K. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The DUP is currently balking due to all the customs difficulties the Northern Irish Protocol of the Brexit deal is causing to the free movement of goods.

Johnson, who would like to renegotiate the Protocol even though the EU is refusing, has threatened to act unilaterally on the issue. He has been urging the parties to form a government despite their disagreements.

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EU regulations making kosher food imports untenable could spark “exodus” from Northern Ireland.

By World Israel News Staff

A Brexit protocol intended to prevent a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland could cause the collapse of the Belfast Jewish community, warned Irish Jewish leaders, joinrf now British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

“Only yesterday there were very serious representations from the Jewish community in Northern Ireland who pointed out that because of the problem with the food sector, it was becoming difficult for them to have timely access, or any access, to kosher food,” Johnson said in the House of Commons Liaison Committee on Wednesday.

“They’re talking now about an exodus from Northern Ireland by the Jewish community,” the Prime Minister added.

Under the terms of Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol, although Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, the territory will remain in the European Union’s single market for goods and services. Goods, including kosher food, traveling between the UK and Northern Ireland will be subjected to new regulations for compliance with EU standards. A grace period delaying the protocol’s regulations comes to an end at the end of September.

The alternative to the protocol would be a hard border of fences and checkpoints between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. But that would violate the 1988 Good Friday agreement that ended the Irish conflict.

The chairman of the Belfast Jewish community, Michael Black, warned that the costs of the new regulatory requirements would make it impractical for importers to deal in the comparatively small amounts of kosher food needed. Between 50-100 Jews live in Northern Ireland, all in Belfast.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have been working with UK officials to find a solution.

“Once kosher food and religious artefacts cannot be supplied, the community is likely to collapse,” said a Board of Deputies statement.

The Northern Ireland Protocol impacts non-kosher food as well. British-EU bickering over the protocol and its implementation has been dubbed “The Sausage War.”

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Catholics in Northern Ireland have traditionally burned the Union Jack in protest against Protestant rule, but why are they also burning the Israeli flag?

The post WATCH: Why are Northern Ireland’s Catholics burning Israeli flags? appeared first on World Israel News.