Oranges and lemons
Reflections on the necessity of ‘both-and’ in standing against the actions of the government of Israel in relation to the people of Palestine, whilst also standing against antisemitism in the UK
Standing in the present looking back
Just over a year ago in May 2025, I was once again visiting Israel-Palestine, primarily to show solidarity with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and to continue listening deeply to the voices of people in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. My thought-piece from that visit can be found here: Shining a light and magnifying a whisper – Diocese of Gloucester
As I look back, I continue to reflect on the themes I first wrote about in July 2024. Israel-Palestine July 2024: Identity, Separation, Power and Trauma – Diocese of Gloucester yet since then, the situation across the Middle East has worsened, and the devastating war with Iran and the conflict across the region, has resulted in a continued muffling of the voices and lives of Palestinians who are still under occupation and yet who seem to be barely visible on the political canvas.
Oranges and lemons
Eight months after that visit in May 2025, I returned in January 2026 for a further visit alongside two episcopal colleagues. Amid the pain of Palestinian communities living in constant fear and torment, there were gold threads of goodness in relationship, worship, shared food, and the beauty of landscape, even with the endless violent invasion by settlers, and the devastation of olive fields and livestock.
One joyful memory is of our visit to Nablus and the delight of picking lemons after the Sunday service in the Anglican church of St Philip. Those lemons of both beauty and bitterness seemed deeply symbolic of their context.
But there were orange trees too, and I was reminded of that childhood nursery rhyme ‘oranges and lemons’[i] perhaps not least because before becoming Bishop of Gloucester I lived in the City of London where my husband was a parish priest, and we enjoyed the varied church bells of the City, to which the nursery rhyme refers. Perhaps too the rhyme came to mind because of its dark narrative relating to justice.
As I reflect on that phrase of ‘oranges and lemons’ it resonates with my deep disturbance at our inability to hold different things together in tension at the same time – things that might seemingly be different, even opposite. Why is it that we have become a people of ‘either-or’ and rejected the ethos of ‘both-and’? Why can we not condemn the actions of this government of Israel regarding Palestine, and at the same time condemn antisemitism in the UK? The two things are entirely different and should not be conflated or cancel each other out. Jews in the UK are not responsible for the actions and decisions of a foreign government and we need to be extremely careful not to create false dichotomies.
Amazingly, one of the lemons from Nablus was presented to King Charles by my friend and colleague, the Bishop of Norwich. I was thinking of that when with Bishop Graham at the recent State Opening of Parliament. In the King’s Speech it was good and right to hear the clear condemnation of antisemitism on our streets. We have seen abhorrent attacks on Jews and synagogues, and it is appalling that Jewish neighbours and friends are living in such fear. It is right to shine a spotlight on this situation and to stand against it vehemently.
Yet, whilst a spotlight is rightly shone on the heinous antisemitism which insidiously prevails in this country, I am deeply perturbed that people are seemingly discouraged from also shining a spotlight of scrutiny on the heinous actions of the Israeli government meted out on the Palestinian people in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, not least for fear of being accused of fanning antisemitism into flame. This is not a zero-sum space, and it is not incompatible to shine a spotlight on both of these issues at the same time.
Until recently, the spotlights on the atrocities of the government of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank seemed to have been switched off, or at best were merely flickering, not only because of the focus on the war with Iran but also because of the appalling anti-Jewish behaviour in our communities in the UK. We must be bold in inhabiting the landscape of ‘both-and’ rather than ‘either-or’. I believe this only becomes possible when we choose to act on the imperative to stand up for the God-given human dignity of every child, young person and adult.
Loving your neighbour
As a Christian, I take very seriously the call of Christ to love my neighbour as myself – indeed it is rooted in the Jewish teachings of the Torah. In Luke’s gospel, when the lawyer asks Jesus, ‘who is my neighbour?’, the answer is not an ‘either-or’ (Luke 10:25-37). In the UK, those of all faiths and no faith are all equally my neighbour. In Israel and Palestine, the Israeli Jew and the Palestinian Christian and Muslim should also be seen and treated as equal neighbours. Incidentally, it is unfortunate that Jesus Christ’s parable in Luke ch.10 has become known as the story of the good Samaritan, with the implication being that Samaritans were inherently bad.
Poignantly, in the vicinity of Nablus where we picked the lemons, there is a Samaritan community and it was heartening to see and hear of the ‘both-and’ work of the charity ‘Seeds’ which brings together young people of different faiths – Muslim, Christian and Samaritan – as they model what it is to create spaces of encounter across difference.
Living by the Law
The system of international law that has emerged since the second world war has sought to uphold human rights and human dignity for everyone, but this is rendered meaningless unless governments are held accountable and international law is universally upheld.
In a rules-based order, the UK government needs to ensure that the full force of our law is brought to bear to protect all those on our streets attacked for their faith and identity, and also to bring perpetrators of such hate crime to justice. At the same time, we need to be clear with the government of Israel that the repeated rhetoric of operating under a rules-based order is empty when the rules of international law are applied selectively such that the Palestinian people are diminished, unprotected, attacked, killed and vilified.
The brutal attacks unleashed on Southern Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023 in which people were hideously killed, tortured, maimed and taken hostage, are to be unreservedly condemned, but not placed under a spotlight which then leaves the unjust treatment and suffering of the Palestinian people ignored, excused and kept hidden in the dark. Again, this is not an ‘either-or’ but a ‘both-and.’ Yet, there can only ever be ‘both-and’ when all people in Israel and occupied Palestine are afforded equal human dignity.
The statement signed on 22 May 2026
I was very glad to finally see a spotlight shone on Palestine in the strong statement (22 May 2026) signed by the UK government alongside the leaders of numerous countries[ii] affirming that ‘the situation in the West Bank has deteriorated significantly. Settler violence is at unprecedented levels. The policies and practices of the Israeli government, including a further entrenchment of Israeli control, are undermining stability and prospects for a two-state solution.’
This week, the Israeli government is due to open the tender process for new settlements to be built in what is known as the E1 area. This will divide the West Bank in two and effectively put an end to any viable existence for a State of Palestine.
The 22 May statement not only opposes the E1 settlement development but also states clearly that it is a ‘serious breach of international law’ and that there will be ‘legal and reputational consequences of participating in settlement construction’ and that businesses ‘should not bid for construction tenders for E1 or any other settlement developments.’
There is a strong call to the government of Israel to ‘end its expansion of settlements and administrative powers’, and the statement strongly opposes those ‘including members of the Israeli government, who argue for annexation and forcible displacement of the Palestinian population.’ There is nothing ‘both-and’ about the actions and intent of the Israeli government.
Standing in the ‘both-and’ place
I do not know whether the two-state solution of ‘both-and’ remains a viable way forward, but I am inspired and encouraged by those who stand in the ‘both-and’ place – People such as ‘Rabbis for Human Rights’ who, whilst not agreeing with every perspective of their Palestinian neighbours, stand with them in solidarity for just treatment and their rights to their land. It has also been a privilege to engage with the organisation, ‘Breaking the Silence’ – ex-soldiers who once served in the Israeli Military and who now shine a spotlight on the horrors, including those they have been forced to participate in, across the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Many of these ex-military men and women are passionate about Israel and their Jewish faith, but they are also passionate about the equal dignity of Palestinians, and they courageously speak out and act.
The dark ending of the nursery rhyme
If you are familiar with the verses of the childhood song ‘oranges and lemons’ you will recognise it as quite a dark nursery rhyme, with a narrative of debt and punishment in the shadow of what was once Newgate Prison adjacent to the old criminal courtrooms situated on Old Bailey in London (where the Central Criminal Court now stands). The bells of Old Bailey would have been those of the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
It is possible that the final words of the rhyme refer to the executions by hanging which took place outside the prison: ‘Here comes the candle to light you to bed, here comes the chopper to chop off your head…’.
There is something strangely chilling and apt about those words as I think of those oranges and lemons growing in occupied Palestine. In the West Bank, I have repeatedly heard Palestinians use the language of strangulation as more and more people are forced into ever smaller and restricted areas, bound by endless checkpoints, and where people’s liberty and dignity are diminished. Furthermore, we are hearing evermore of the hardship and inhumane existence in Gaza as people are continuing to be forced into restricted areas of land, and life feels more like a death sentence.
Those final words of the nursery rhyme are also frighteningly apt given the March 2026 ruling of the Knesset to instigate the death penalty for those guilty of terrorism. The wording is such that if this law comes into effect, it will only be applied to Palestinians. Death will be by hanging.
Conclusion
As the very existence of Palestine is terrifyingly threatened by the E1 development, seemingly unfolding under the cover of darkness as the spotlight continues to shine almost exclusively on the awful war with Iran, and the separate but awful rise of antisemitism in the UK, we must hold our Government to account, not only regarding the latter but also in ensuring that the threats they have outlined in the statement of 22 May 2026 will not prove to be empty.
I am committed to keeping a spotlight on the suffering and oppression in Palestine (The West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem) and standing alongside our Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters; just as I am committed to keeping a spotlight on the anti-Jewish hatred in the UK, and standing alongside our Jewish brothers and sisters here. The Christian imperative is for us to seek to be good neighbours to all – and to act and speak for equal human dignity for all. There is no place for ‘either-or’, only ‘both-and’.
Earlier this month as I visited the Central Criminal Court of Old Bailey, I walked past Holy Sepulchre church, named after the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem – the holy Christian site of Christ’s hope-filled empty tomb. When those bells ring out in London may they do so for justice and dignity for all people – in London and across the UK, and in Palestine and Israel, and beyond.
Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, Bishop of Gloucester 1 June 2026
[i] Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St Clement’s.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St Martin’s.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.
I do not know,
Say the great bells of Bow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed.
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chip chop chip chop the last man is dead.
[ii] Joint Statement on the situation in the West Bank: 22 May 2026 – GOV.UK
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