Stephen Sizer is being investigated by the Church of England

On the Stephen Sizer front, it appears that the Church of England is going to investigate his latest infelicities: "Church of England to investigate Stephen Sizer over 9/11 Israel post."

The Church of England is investigating one of its clergy after he posted a link on Facebook post to an article entitled "9-11/Israel did it". 

In the week in which Prince Charles led commemorations at Holocaust Memorial Day marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Rev Stephen Sizer's link was condemned by the Church as "unacceptable" and a matter of "deep sorrow and shame".... 

When Jewish News contacted Sizer about the 9/11 link, he asked the weekly newspaper to show him articles refuting such claims. 

The article he linked to attempted to make connections between wealthy American Jews and the 9/11 attacks. Sizer asked online: "Is this anti-Semitic?.. It raises so many questions."... 

In an email to the Jewish News, Sizer said: "I would welcome articles you can recommend refuting the allegations." Noting that many Americans feel 9/11 was "an inside job," Sizer added: "It is essential the public become convinced of what happened before and after 9/11. Inevitably the truth will upset many people if it is shown by further investigation that the official explanations are shown to be deficient." 

He added: "Encouraging research and debate on all aspects of [9/11] is not anti-Semitic... Suppressing discussion on such grounds will fuel suspicion, not remove it."

He just posted the following statement on his blog:

Statement from Revd Dr Stephen Sizer

"I very much regret and apologise for the distress caused by the reposting on Facebook of a link to an article about 9/11 from Wikispooks. It was particularly insensitive in that last week coincided with Holocaust Memorial Day. I removed the link as soon as I received adverse feedback, and realised that offence had been caused. I have never believed Israel or any other country was complicit in the terrorist atrocity of 9/11, and my sharing of this material was ill-considered and misguided. At the request of the Diocese, I will be suspending my use of all social media and blogs with immediate effect and until further notice.”

He has, however, not removed the whitewashing article on his blog about his participation in the Iranian government's "New Horizons interfaith conference" in Teheran in October, which I wrote about then - Stephen Sizer hanging out at an antisemitic conference in Iran. This is where he issued a threat to those who criticize the Iranian government: "Critics of conferences such as New Horizons should think more carefully about how their inflammatory words will negatively impact on their own communities in Iran." Apparently Sizer believes that Jews and Christians living in Western countries, where we have freedom of speech, should refrain from criticizing the Iranian government because our co-religionists might be attacked by the government because of our words. There's a word for that: blackmail.

At that conference he gave a speech called "Christian Jihad," where he equates the Zionist movement with ISIS: "I hope that we would all agree ISIS is no more representative of Islam than Zionism is of Judaism, or the Crusades and Inquisition are of Christianity."

For more on Sizer's deep connections to Iran and an Iraqi Shi'ite militia called Kata'ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades), see an article on Harry's Place, "Sizer presents TV show for channel linked to Hezbollah Brigades." The network is called Al-Ejetah, and it is an Iraqi station sponsored by the Kata'ib Hezbollah and paid for by Iran. His program is called "Enlightenment." An article on The Arab Digest, January 30, 2012, reports that, "The first is the Aletejah TV, an Iraqi channel for the pro-Iranian 'Hezbollah Brigades', a small military organisation that is diverting its attention to "social issues" after the American withdrawal."

Kata'ib Hezbollah is one of the Iranian-backed "Special Groups" of Shi'a militias that carried out attacks on coalition forces during the Iraq war. Since the U.S. withdrawal, the group has deployed fighters to Syria and has also set up a front group in Iraq, Saraya ad-Difa' ash-Sha'abi ("Popular Defense Brigades"), to assist Iraqi government forces to roll back Sunni insurgent advances, most notably in the Tikrit area, where security sources speaking to pro-government outlets have readily admitted coordination. Kata'ib Hezbollah, as an Iranian proxy, espouses the Khomeinist ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih ("Guardianship of the Jurist").

From globalsecurity.org:

Kata’ib Hizballah is a radical Shia Islamist group with an anti-Western establishment and jihadist ideology that has conducted attacks against Iraqi, U.S, and Coalition targets in Iraq. Kata’ib Hizballah has ideological ties to Lebanese Hizballah and gained notoriety in 2007 with attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces designed to undermine the establishment of a democratic, viable Iraqi state. The organization has been responsible for numerous violent terrorist attacks since 2007, including improvised explosive device bombings, rocket propelled grenade attacks, and sniper operations. Kata’ib Hizballah also targeted the International Zone in Baghdad in a November 29, 2008 rocket attack that killed two UN workers. In addition, KH has threatened the lives of Iraqi politicians and civilians that support the legitimate political process in Iraq. 

On June 24, 2009 Deputy Secretary of State James B. Steinberg designated Kata’ib Hizballah (KH) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (INA). Deputy Secretary Steinberg also designated KH under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224, as amended. The Department of Treasury has also designated Kata’ib Hizballah under Executive Order 13438. The Department of State took these actions in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury, and other relevant U.S. agencies.

The Al Ejetah network has also hosted Gilad Atzmon on its Panorama program, speaking on the Jewish lobby. On Atzmon's webpage the content of the program is described in these terms:

In this Al Etejah's Panorama program Gilad Atzmon elaborates on the dominance of Jewish lobby in the UK and America and the weak resistance it meets in both Britain and the USA. The activity of the Lobby clearly undermines the notion of Western democracy. We also spoke about the collapse of Left politics and future of Western thinking.

The Harry's Place article details Sizer's contacts with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Iranian regime:

This is not Sizer’s first experience doing PR for Iran’s Shia network. 

Sizer has previously toured South Lebanon as a guest of the Lebanese Hezbollah’s TV network Al Manar TV. ... 

Last year he made a tourism video for Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator who has overseen the deaths of 200,000 of his own people, in a civil war in which Assad has bombed his and gassed own people repeatedly – not that this deterred Sizer. 

Sizer has worked before with the Iranian regime. As you can see in this document, he worked with Khomeini’s daughter Zahra Mostafavi to translate his book Christian Zionism into Farsi.... 

The Iranian regime, remember, jails pastors distributing New Testaments, whilst sponsoring a translation of Sizer’s book, which shows the cross locked in by a giant Star of David on its cover.

Last year, Sizer spoke at an antisemitic conference in Iran, which included Holocaust deniers as speakers.

This ought to trouble the Church of England, every bit as much as his 9/11 conspiracy theory.

Daphne Anson has an excellent article about Sizer on her blog, with a screenshot of his Facebook post linking to the article arguing for Israeli/Jewish responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.

Further articles on Sizer:

Betsy Childs at First Things writes about Sizer as the "Master of Apologies." She concludes:

While Stephen Sizer has shown himself ready to apologize, he has been unwilling to alter his behavior. It is past time for his church to stop allowing him to plead carelessness as his excuse. His continual posting of anti-Semitic content, as well as his disingenuous apologies, brings dishonor to the name of Jesus and the body of Christ.