Board questions church event for children by groups with members who support Palestine Action

The Board of Deputies and London Jewish Forum have written to a church in Croydon questioning why it is being used for an event aimed at young children hosted by groups who have had members arrested for their support for a proscribed terrorist organisation.

St John the Evangelist Church in Croydon, which describes itself as “offering a welcoming space for spiritual growth and connection, is hosting “Palestine at the Palace” tomorrow, a “kids culture day” organised by the Crystal Palace Friends of Palestine and the Croydon Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

The letter, addressed to the Canon of the Church, comes from Judith Prinsley, Vice Chair of Security, Resilience, and Cohesion (SRC) Division at the Board of Deputies, and Amanda Bowman Co-Chair of the London Jewish Forum.

“Prominent members of both the Crystal Palace Friends of Palestine and Croydon Palestine Solidarity Campaign have previously been arrested under the Terrorism Act for expressing support for the group Palestine Action”, the letter says.

“This group was described by Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr in her court ruling in June 2026 as a group that ‘overtly promotes unlawful violence amounting to terrorism’. Additionally, the Rt Hon Steve Reed MP made a police complaint following a protest outside his home involving two activists from these groups. They were subsequently questioned by police, but no further action was taken.

“These are campaigning organisations with strongly partisan positions on the conflict in the Middle East. We do not believe that organisations with this record are appropriate parties to educate children about such a complex and sensitive conflict, particularly in a church setting intended to serve the wider community.”

The letter goes on to ask: “given the public positions and campaigning activity of the groups involved, we would like to understand how you assessed their suitability to run activities for children in your church, and how you judged their involvement to be compatible with the Church’s commitment to peace and community cohesion.

“We are particularly concerned about the safeguarding implications and the risk of children being exposed to extreme or highly partisan political messages. We ask you to reconsider the involvement of these groups in an event aimed at children. We would also welcome an explanation of the due diligence undertaken before they were invited to play a central role, and the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these concerns and how Jews and Christians can work together to support peace and dialogue.”

Jewish News understands that the letter from the Board and LJF comes after local Jewish residents in Croydon expressed their dismay at the Church hosting the event. At the time of writing the church has not responded to the letter, which was sent on Tuesday.

The relationship between the Church of England and the Jewish community was impacted this summer after the former’s annual synod voted to hear a motion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which included the notorious “Kairos II” document Zionism as a settler-colonial movement built on “Jewish supremacy” and with genocidal intent, and urges Christians to avoid associations with Zionist Jews.

In a subsequent interview with Jewish News, Bishop Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, the Church of England’s lead for Interfaith Engagement, said that Kairos II had been written “within a particular geopolitical context, and that its theological action holds particular stuff that doesn’t necessarily speak with urgency and pertinence to our British context.

“Therefore there’s a piece of translation that needs to happen that I’m not sure we were able to do as effectively at Synod. I do think that the critical engagement certainly needs to take place, partly because we don’t simply want to assume as given some of the statements made in Kairos II, that could be potentially dangerous.”

Commenting on the event at St John the Evangelist in Croydon, Karen Newman, Vice President of the Board of Deputies and chair of the SRC division, said:

“At a time when our communities and societies are divided, centres and communities of faith offer a safe space for meaningful connection and reflection. To this end, we were concerned over the suitability of partisan organisations to run activities for children in such a space, particularly those engaged in acts of intimidation and support for proscribed organisations.

“We have reached out to the Church to ask that they reconsider the involvement of these groups in an event aimed at children, and also for an explanation of the due diligence undertaken before they were invited to play a central role – we have received no response. It is important to note from the outset that our objection was not to the celebration of Palestinian culture. The Board of Deputies strongly supports community cohesion and constructive engagement between diverse communities, including efforts to promote understanding and peace between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Amanda Bowman, co-chair of LJF, said: Faith institutions have an important role in building trust and strengthening relations between communities. Giving highly partisan political campaign groups a platform to run activities aimed at children raises serious questions about judgement and due diligence.

“We asked St John’s to reconsider the involvement of these groups and explain how it assessed their suitability. We are disappointed that we have received no substantive response.”

Jewish News has contacted St John the Evangelist in Croydon for comment.