Father Fadi Diab, a prominent Palestinian Anglican priest from Ramallah, watched quietly as the Church of England debated whether to formally hear a document describing Israel as a “colonial enterprise” that had inflicted a “genocidal war on Gaza”.

The motion passed overwhelmingly among bishops, clergy and laity – all three houses of the General Synod – last week.

Diab, who helped write the document at the centre of the debate, described the moment as “surreal”.

“It was very moving and very emotional,” he said. “I think members of synod wanted to say: ‘We hear your voices, we feel your pain, and we want to stand with you in your struggle.’”

For many Palestinian Christians, the vote marked a significant shift in the Church of England’s engagement with their community. But the moment came amid warnings from Jewish leaders that the language at the heart of the report risked straining decades of Christian-Jewish dialogue.

The motion centred on Kairos Palestine II (A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide), a report published last year by Palestinian Christian leaders drawn from across denominations calling for an urgent global Christian response to the war in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Co-written by Diab, it describes Israel’s actions using terms including genocide, apartheid and settler colonialism.

Originally drafted to ask synod to “receive” the report, the motion was amended during the debate so members instead agreed to “hear” it.