Letters - 23 October 2026
'In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.'
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Zionism
With regard to Ol Rappaport’s letter of 16 October, anyone who denies Zionism is racism must show how it can proceed without the violent displacement of the people in the way.
Neither the Green Party nor Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) can do anything which would lead to a functional Palestinian state. The Green Party has previously recognised the genocide the Israeli government is carrying out, and now those moving the motion seek to increase pressure on the British government to act against that genocide.
Friends as individual members of the Green Party might work to change its policy, but BYM is not a party, and should be very careful about political statements.
Before acting as Green Party members or otherwise, Friends might consider Yearly Meeting 2025 Minute 30: What do we abhor? ‘Any attempt to use our words to question the existence of Israel.’ The Green Party motion does not refer to the Quaker minute or make any representation about the BYM position. Quakers are not antisemitic, and our minute is not antisemitic. But the minute says, ‘Guided by the testimony and judgment of Palestinians, Israelis, and genocide and legal experts we look to and work with, we are therefore led to say that we believe that genocide and mass displacement are underway in the actions of the Israeli government and its military towards the population of Gaza, recognising that a legal judgment on this is a matter for the International Courts.’
The minute calls for action by Friends: ‘We know that making a statement is not enough. We draw Friends’ and meetings’ attention to Meeting for Sufferings minutes S/11/04/4 from April 2011, which asks Friends throughout Britain Yearly Meeting to boycott settlement goods, until such time as the occupation is ended, and MfS/18/10/19 from October 2018, which asks BYM to avoid investing in companies profiting from the occupation of Palestine.’
Ol says the minute upholds the right of Israelis to thrive in their homeland. I recognise that Israelis are refugees and the descendants of refugees. I want a place for Jews to live where they will not be attacked for being Jewish, and Britain is not such a place. But here is the context: ‘We cry out for the violence in Gaza to stop – for an end to the killing of Palestinians and for the Israeli hostages to be returned home. We cry out for Palestinians and Israelis to be safe and to live thriving, joyous lives in their homelands. Everyone deserves a place to live where they don’t feel scared. Our long work for peace tells us that security for some bought with the insecurity of others tears at our collective humanity and is only ever temporary. Peace can never be brought about by the systematic oppression of others.’
Israelis will not thrive in their homeland ‘by the systematic oppression of others’, which is now carrying on in Palestine.
Abigail Maxwell
Membership
I had interesting conversations this week about membership, with two Friends. One asked why people didn’t become members; the other was a long-term attender who said he felt himself to be a Quaker – he was sure he was – but he always had a ‘but’.
I said to both of them that, as an attender, you arrive, and meet a lively, interesting group of people, who care for one another and the world at large; it is companionable, and in time you can take part, and help where needed. Very little is barred to you, and you feel you belong. The Meeting for Worship may give you something special and answer your need. But you are still your own individual self. If you become a member, you are not just yourself, you become a representative of the organisation you’ve joined, and you may or may not agree with what the wider scene of Quakers does or says. Over the years I have referred to ‘them’ or ‘us’ according to whether I agreed or not with what I heard Quakers were doing!
Not everyone is a ‘joiner’. Some people need to join as part of their inner journey, it is a recognition that this is where they belong and where they want to be. They need that milestone, publicly acknowledged. Not everyone feels this way and some may have deep-seated reasons why they don’t wish to be ‘caught’ in this way – previous commitments that haven’t worked out perhaps. This is why our openness to membership or not is a good thing, in my view. We are meant to live by the spirit of the thing, and though a certain degree of structure is necessary in any organisation, it is there to help individuals, not to take them over. My experience locally in the last couple of years is that several attenders, within a short time of coming, have asked how they could help financially. Perhaps people have more awareness of the cost of any organisation than we tend to give them credit for.
Having read Beth Allen’s article on membership (‘Re:members’, 2 October), I am aware that the organisation of the Society as a whole needs to be considered. But nevertheless we are all individuals, with our individual path through life to work out. What about our personal sense of guidance, discernment, quest… Do we really trust guidance, that there is something beyond ourselves that leads us on? Being of the old-fashioned school, I would be happy with this criterion: to be a humble learner in the school of Christ – the operative words being ‘humble’ and ‘learner’, as many come to a deeper sense of what love means in life within the experience of our Quaker worship, and communities that do not necessarily acknowledge Christ-centredness. Their ways may be different.
Rosemary Wells
