Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has denounced a document calling Israel an “apartheid state” that was adopted by the Methodist Church at its annual conference.

Rabbi Mirvis said that the report, ‘Cry for Hope’, “wilfully distorts the meaning of Zionism and seeks to legitimise the insidious BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement”.

He said that the paper was “deeply misguided and deplorable”, adding: “It only serves to diminish Christian-Jewish relations in this country, and damages the very cause their church purports to champion.”

The Chief Rabbi’s intervention came on the last day of this year’s annual Methodist conference, which took place last week in Birmingham.

‘Cry For Hope’, published last year, is also part of an online campaign being run on Change.org by Christian activist group Kairos Palestine to condemn what it describes as Israel’s “oppression” of the Palestinians.

Briefing notes for participants in the Methodist gathering stated: “The Conference notes that the report argues it is time for the international community to recognise Israel as an apartheid state in terms of international law.”

The church’s leadership commended Cry For Hope.

It also encouraged conference delegates to “endorse it and act on its recommendations, including through divestment and sanctions in relation to companies supporting the occupation in any way”.

One motion tabled at the conference blamed Israel for the “deteriorating situation” for Christians in Gaza and the West Bank, and another accused Israel of “self-promotion” over its vaccine roll-out policy.