By Roberta P. Seid and Roz Rothstein
JNS.org – Much has been written about the deplorable anti-Israel divestment vote at the recently held 221st General Assembly (GA) of Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA). I (Roberta P. Seid) witnessed the proceedings and was struck by an aspect not covered in the reporting on the GA: the corrosive self-delusion that led to, and justified, PCUSA’s positions on Israel.
Self-Delusion No. 1: “PCUSA prides itself on its fairness and democratic procedures.” As it turns out, the Church’s Committee on Middle East Issues did not meet those standards at the GA. The moderator originally appointed for the committee—centrist Rev. Al Butzer, who had visited the Holy Land with Jewish and Palestinian groups—was unceremoniously replaced through behind-the-scenes manipulation. Since resolution proponents get a longer time to speak when they present the resolution’s rationale, anti-divestment committee members asked for equal time to respond. The Middle East issues committee rejected their request and limited them to 90-second comments. Proponents of divestment also provided supposedly neutral resource experts to answer questions, but their “experts” were committed anti-Israel ideologues. The result was an almost unchallenged barrage of anti-Israel hate propaganda that ignored all context, including the ongoing terrorism and threats Israel faces from the terrorist group Hamas and its allies, Hezbollah, Iran, and other self-declared enemies in the region.
Self-Delusion No. 2: “Committee members, who are chosen randomly shortly before the GA meets, can learn enough from the committee debate to vote on complex international issues.” Not true. Several of the 66 committee members admitted they had known little about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and were swayed by the debates. Given the committee’s structural bias, they clearly were in no position to make informed, responsible judgments.
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DELUSION is the word for it. my mother has been in and out of the hospital lately, four times since Aoril. most recently she was locked up, literally, for two weeks in a mental health facility. she is 83 years old. unfortunately i’ve had to learn a lot about delusions, delirium, dementia, mental disorders commonly occurring in the elderly. frankly the more i read about the PCUSA the more it sounds like the geriatric ward of the mental hospital, not a thriving group that’s legally competent to speak about anything. add a little money to the mix and it’s an explosive situation. old folks who have control over money will go down with the ship, screaming and yelling, before they’ll admit they’re nuttier than squirrel poop. that’s been my experience, and it sounds a lot like the PCUSA.
The organization not church the former pcusa signed its death warrant throwing Israel under the bus or curb, by violating Gen. 12:3. Egypt tried it, and look at Egypt today, nothing. Germany tried it, and look at Germany, allied forces still are in Germany after nearly 70 years, and why???? So to the former pcusa, your days are numbered, God will deal with you as HE did to those in the past seeking to destroy Israel.
Pcusa is filled with liberal ministers who are anti semitic and give anti semitic sermons. They, however, click themselves with liberalism as a so called acceptable excuse for being snti semitic. Quit out church because of anti Semite minister. Now he is in Connecticut spewing same hatred