UPDATEThe Independent has now published this letter in response to the original offensive ones:

The Rev Dr Stephen Sizer (letters 20 February) accuses the Chief Rabbi of 'crying "anti-Semitism"' in order to cover Israel's human rights abuses. He uses the term 'the people in the shadows' to describe those who are worried that his call for disinvestment is 'only the first' in a long line of calls for economic, cultural and academic boycotts of Israel. Sizer is part of a movement in the UK that aims not to criticise Israeli policy but rather to make the visceral loathing of Israel respectable. He lives in a world where many of those that characterise Israel as a demonic force are Jew-haters and where most Jews think that Israel has the right to exist. He belittles the threat of the former and he characterises the latter in a way that many will interpret as antisemitic. People that stand against the hatred of Israel have a right to organise politically without being de-legitimised in the language of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as 'the people in the shadows'.
Dr David Hirsh
Sociology Department
Goldsmiths College

Five letters in the Independent carefully analysing antisemitism:

Church's share sale is not anti-Semitic

Sir: As someone in part responsible for the General Synod motion to divest from Caterpillar, I find myself wondering why there has been such vitriolic language in response ("Chief Rabbi attacks Church of England for Israel protest", 17 February). At last, Synod has had the courage to stand up for Palestine and refuse to be intimidated by those who like Chicken Little cry "anti-Semitism" whenever Israeli human rights abuses in the occupied territories are mentioned.

The Israeli military is committing war crimes on a daily basis with Caterpillar D9 bulldozers, which are the size of a double decker bus, weigh 53 tons and are fortified with bulletproof glass, machine-gun turrets and grenade launchers. These bulldozers are being used to destroy homes, olive groves, farms, orchards and utilities so that Israel can annexe the land for its exclusive settlements and apartheid roads. They are an integral weapon in Israel's strategy to destroy the international roadmap and erase any possibility of a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state. If Caterpillar is genuinely repentant, then let us see some of its profits used to rebuild Palestinian homes.

What arrogance from those who would lecture Anglicans of conscience for voting to withdraw their own funds from companies exploiting the occupation. The Central Board of Finance is on notice. If they do not sell our Caterpillar shares as expected by Synod within a short period of time, individual parishes will begin unilaterally doing it for them and find other more ethically acceptable investment options than the CBF. Why has the Archbishop faced a torrent of criticism over this vote? Simple: the people in the shadows know that Caterpillar is only the first. "Let justice roll" (Amos 5:24).
THE REV DR STEPHEN SIZER
CHRIST CHURCH VICARAGE, VIRGINIA WATER, SURREY

Who exactly is this Reverend referring to by the term "the people in the shadows?" - Ed

Sir: Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, states that "the Church has chosen to take a stand on the politics of the Middle East". On the contrary: the Church has chosen to take a stand on the issue of international legality and human rights, about which the Chief Rabbi has nothing to say.

In fact, his stand is consistent with his continued position of uncritical support for whatever the Israeli government chooses to do. This is, of course, taking a stand on the politics of the Middle East.

It is indeed strange that a man of the cloth who trumpets his commitment to peace has nothing to say about the godless outcome of the uses to which the Israeli militarised Caterpillar bulldozers are put. Since he is far more angry about a resolution than about the evil that occasioned it, many Jews like myself feel that his strictures are a sign of the bankruptcy of the organised establishment Jewish voice.
DIANA NESLEN
ILFORD, ESSEX

Sir: The Chief Rabbi suggests that the Church of England should remain primarily concerned with relations between Jews and Christians in England, and so support the Palestinian economy in the same way it does the Israeli one. However, he fails to take into account the levels of destruction caused in the occupied territories by the Israeli military, so making any investment in Palestine money down the drain. Israeli forces have destroyed roads, electricity supplies, water works, and other necessary and basic public services with impunity. It is international investment in Israel that allows for this state of affairs to persist, and the Church has rightly targeted the Israeli economy in order to redress the balance.
RAJNAARA AKHTAR
LEICESTER

Sir: The most ridiculous part of the Chief Rabbi's attack on the Church of England is his suggestion that it should have chosen to invest in the Palestinian economy. This at a time when the Israeli government is withholding thousand of dollars of tax money that is due to the Palestinians.
B EMMERSON

SEE ALSO Paul Oestreicher's Christian Holiness in the Guardian.