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The Presbyterian Church (USA) has committed a grievous sin. The General Assembly of that church has voted to divest from only one country in the world. No, it was not China, which has occupied Tibet for half a century and continues to deny basic human rights to its own citizens. No, it was not Iran, which threatens nuclear holocaust, executes dissenters and denies religious freedom to Christians and Jews. No, it was not North Korea, Libya, Russia, Sudan, Cuba or Belarus. It was -- you guessed it -- Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and America's most reliable ally in a troubled part of the world. The way it will work is simple: A blacklist will be prepared for the church's leaders, showing companies that earn more than $1 million annually from investments in Israel or that invest more than $1 million a year in Israel. The Presbyterians plan to divest from any company on the list -- with a handful of exemptions for companies that deal in education, social welfare programs and construction. How did the church come to such a ludicrous, wrongheaded position? Just look at the resolution itself, which bursts with bigotry and ignorance. It effectively blames the Israelis for Palestinian slaughter of civilians by asserting that the occupation is the "root" of terrorism. This canard ignores the reality that the Palestinian leadership opted for murder and violence as the tactic of choice well before there was any occupation, and that the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad have vowed to continue murdering Jews after the occupation ends, as long as the Jewish state exists. The Presbyterian resolution effectively calls for the end of Israel by insisting on "the right of [Palestinian] refugees to return to their homeland." This is a well-known euphemism for turning Israel from a Jewish state into another state with a Palestinian majority. (Jordan is the other.) The Presbyterian resolution also condemns Israel's military actions taken in defense of its civilians. It claims, without an iota of proof and against all the available evidence, that Israel commits "horrific acts of violence and deadly attacks on innocent people" when the truth is that Israel, like the United States, goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid killing innocent people. It equates Israel's targeting of terrorists with Palestinian targeting of civilians. The president of Harvard University, in a speech delivered in Harvard's Memorial Church in 2002, included the singling out of Israel for divestment as the sort of "actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect, if not in their intent." The one-sided actions of the Presbyterian Church fit into this category. Divestment also encourages the continued use of terrorism by Palestinian leaders, who see that when Israel responds to their terrorism, it causes an important church to punish Israel. I do not believe that a majority of the 2.5 million Presbyterians in the U.S. want their church used to support terrorism. But they are now on notice that their church has been hijacked and its name misused in the service of an immoral tactic. Balanced criticism of Israel and of specific policies of its government is proper and essential to democratic governance. But the Presbyterian resolution is so one-sided, so anti-Zionist in its rhetoric and so ignorant of the realities on the ground that it can only be explained by the kind of bigotry that the Presbyterian Church itself condemned in 1987 when it promised "never again to participate in, to contribute to, or (insofar as we are able) to allow the persecution or denigration of Jews." Unless the church rescinds this immoral, sinful and bigoted denigration of the Jewish state, it will be "participating in" and "contributing to" anti-Jewish bigotry and the encouragement of terrorism. This article originally appeared in the LA Times. Published: Sunday, August 08, 2004
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These are indeed difficult times. If only we could learn to dialogue with each other in a spirit of peace, rather than alienation. G_d help us all.
(2) Ramón Riveravega 4/17/2006
Unbelievable!.
It's very difficult for me to believe the wrongful position of the Presbyterian Church. The leaders of that church should read at least Genesis 15:18; Deuteronomy 11:24 and Acts 7:5.
(3) Christine Axelrod 3/4/2005
Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Responds
My name is Christine Axelrod. I am serving my third year as Elder-Trustee at Pacific Palisades Presbyterian Church and I am married to a Jew. I first became aware of the absurd actions of the 216th General Assembly when a dear Jewish friend sent us your article, "Presbyterians’ Shameful Boycott".
Since July, 2004, the leadership and membership of our church have been actively moving to correct that which is wrong. I personally spend 20 to 30 hours a week on this issue and there are others, in our church, which have done the same and more.
In December, our Session, comprised of 12 Elders and 3 Elder-Trustees, voted unanimously to send a letter renouncing the General Assembly's decision to begin a process of phased, selective divestment of companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We claim that no consensus exists within the membership of the Church for the General Assembly to take this action. We further renounced the 24-member Presbyterian delegation who met with Hezbollah and then participated in a controversial press conference following the meeting. We believed the actions to be a disgrace and demanded they apologize. We sent it to 5 members of the Presbyterian denomination and have not had a response from any of them.
Then we wrote a letter of support and apology that was signed by 108 members of our church. We then presented the letter to the Board of Directors of our local temple, Kehillat Israel.
Many of us have met with leaders of the Jewish Federation and Anti-Defamation League and enjoy ongoing dialog with them. One of our members, George Douglas, joined 18 other members of an interfaith group who traveled to Israel and Palestine last month, meeting with leaders on all sides. Another member, Charles Foster, is meeting monthly with the Jewish/Presbyterian Leadership Group. However, the Presbyterians who continue to uphold the actions of the GA are not showing up at the meetings and we who are trying to fix things are left talking to our selves.
At this time we are speaking to members at Brentwood Presbyterian and Bel Air Presbyterian to gain a stronger voice when talking to the Presbyterian leadership. We only hear more rhetoric and justification from the Presbyterian denomination for the GA's actions claiming there is no Anti-Semitism involved. We are considering withholding our per capita tax and specifying the use of our Mission funds. The per capita tax will directly hurt the General Assembly, Synod and Presbytery. Imagine if many churches did that.
If you have any interest in speaking to members of the Westside Presbyterian Churches in order to speed the process of informing and uniting us in this cause, we would be most appreciative. I'm sure our Jewish friends would like to attend as well. I realize how valuable your time is and this is an unlikely scenario. However, perhaps a follow-up article now eight or nine months after your first article to summarize how little churches like ours around the country have reacted and acted would be helpful to our cause. There is a group within our church called Presbyterians Concerned for Jewish Christian Relations (www.PCJCR.org) who could probably best summarize what is happening in Presbyterian churches across the country.
There was an article published March 3, 2005 in the Palisadian-Post that gives some background and reprints of the letter of apology from our church and the response from Kehillat Israel. I have so much more documentation to share, if you are interested.
If you wish additional information, I obviously have that in abundance. Thank you for your patience and tolerance of an action that has been so hurtful to Jews and their Christian friends.