The Rt Rev Graham Usher has not responded to questions regarding his support for a motion which commits the Church of England to "hear" a document which describes Israel as a "colonial enterprise based on racism" and accuses it of "genocide".

Ephraim Mirvis, the Chief Rabbi, said the vote was "shameful", while Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies, said it undermined the Church's efforts to tackle antisemitism.

Bishop Graham - who wrote an article for this newspaper in April describing antisemitism as "virulent" - was one of 25 bishops who voted in favour of the proposal at the CofE's recent General Synod.

It committed the Church to "engaging with" the document, called Kairos II, which was written by Palestinian Christians and brands Israel a “colonial, settler, and exclusionary entity”.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who has condemned the Kairos II document (Image: PA Archive/Press Association Images)

It claims that "Zionists do not want us to remain on our land. Their plan for us is displacement, death or submission" and criticises the Abraham Accords – Israel’s agreements with a number of Arab countries to normalise diplomatic relations.

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews , said the "incendiary wording" of the document was at odds with the Church’s expressed aim of tackling antisemitism.

He said: “Kairos Palestine may come from a place of genuine pain, but the falsehoods........

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