‘Fizzled’
PCUSA ministers criticized for support of tepid Jerusalem ‘March’
By Jason P. Reagan, The Layman, April 4, 2012
A recent protest against Israel across the Arab world failed to draw millions of participants as planned, but the group organizing it has drawn lots of support from Presbyterian Church (USA) leaders and pastors.
On March 30, the Global March on Jerusalem movement deployed several rallies on Israel’s northern and eastern borders as well as local demonstrations in neighboring Arab countries, but several news sources report the march “fizzled,” drawing only thousands rather than the two million promised by organizers.
“Several thousand people did gather at protest sites in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gaza and the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria. But the numbers were far lighter than originally threatened, and most Israelis were barely aware that there was a protest happening,” reported Israel Today.
The protests resulted in a few deaths and several injuries, mostly in instances where protestors attempted to illegally cross borders in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as at the Jordanian border.
The Jerusalem Post reported that “about 100 Arabs protested next to the Damascus Gate at the Old City, the closest entrance to the Aksa Mosque, and tried to march to the entrance. Seventeen demonstrators were arrested as security forces dealt with sporadic rock throwing and stopped the march.”
Friends of Sabeel — North America (FOSNA) provided backing for the march among other anti-Israel organizations and the organization has several ties to PCUSA leaders. In fact, the Rev. Donald Wagner, current National Program Director for FOSNA and ordained PCUSA minister, helped found the group.
According to its website, FOSNA “supports the vision” of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, a group described by Joseph Puder, director of the Interfaith Taskforce for America and Israel, as “an Arab Palestinian Christian institution, which has become a major source of the anti-Israel narrative employed by elements of the mainline Protestant churches.” The group shares an official partnership with the PCUSA.
Other noted PCUSA ministers or members involved with FOSNA include:
- The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, former General Assembly Moderator, current member of the FOSNA Steering Committee;
- The Rev. Darrel Meyers, current member of the FOSNA Steering Committee, as well as the group’s Southwest Area Coordinator;
- Sara Humphrey, FOSNA Georgia Area Coordinator;
- Susan Dravis, FOSNA Southeast Iowa Area Coordinator, facilitator with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (USA).
“Sabeel … encourages anti-Semitism by employing deicide imagery; depicting the Palestinians as the crucified Jesus and the Israelis as the crucifers or, in simple terms, as the modern Christ killers,” Puder notes in a recent article.
The involvement of the ministers in the March on Jerusalem comes as no surprise to denominational observers. The PCUSA continues to stir up a swirl of controversy regarding its stance against the Israeli government.
In 2004, a Presbyterian delegation met with a leader of pro-Palestinian terrorist group Hezbollah. Claiming he represented a Pittsburgh congregation, Elder Ron Stone said meeting with the Islamic leaders proved less contentious then other meetings with pro-Israeli groups. Following a barrage of complaints by Presbyterians, PCUSA officials denied any denominational ties with the delegation but nonetheless fired two employees who accompanied the group to Syria.
In March of 2011, Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons sent a letter to the Obama Administration to take “bold and immediate new steps” to reconsider the veto of a UN Security Council resolution that would have declared Israeli settlement efforts in Palestinian territories to be illegal. The letter, signed by Parsons and 19 other church and religious leaders, supported past statements by Palestinian leaders.
In mid-February, the PCUSA’s General Assembly Mission Council voted to send a recommendation to the 220th General Assembly to divest all assets from Motorola Solutions, Hewlett Packard and Caterpillar, claiming the three companies “profit from non-peaceful pursuits by supporting illegal occupation [by Israel].”
In March, the denomination’s largest presbytery co-sponsored a speech by a man whose controversial views on Judaism and the Holocaust had been heavily criticized as anti-Semitic.
In addition to the GAMC recommendation, at least three pro-Palestinian overtures have been submitted for consideration at the 220th General Assembly.
- Overture 21 on recognizing that Israel’s law and practices constitute apartheid against Palestinian people from Muskingum Valley Presbytery.
- Overture 24 on Boycotting Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories and Hadiklaim (an Israeli Date Growers Cooperative) from San Francisco Presbytery.
- Overture 25 on divestment from Caterpillar from San Francisco Presbytery.
Puder accused the PCUSA and other protesting denominations of employing a double standard: “Mainline Protestant churches have not sought to divest from Arab Muslim states such as Egypt and Iraq who routinely engage in the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Christians,” he said. “Nor do they organize boycott campaigns against Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey for the brutal persecution of their Kurdish minorities. And, they have not considered labeling Saudi Arabia and Iran as “apartheid states” for discriminating against religious and ethnic minorities,” he added.
Although billed as a peaceful protest, journalists note that the march could have ignited into something far worse. According to a report in the Times of Israel, the Israeli government claimed the march had been organized by “hostile elements,” prompting officials to send messages of warning to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon as well as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, urging leaders to avoid escalating already brewing tensions.
According to the Times, four American Orthodox rabbis were “beaten and verbally abused by local participants at the start” of a protest in Jordan.
In Gaza, a man was killed and 29 people wounded in clashes between protestors and Israeli forces stationed at a security fence.
Some Jewish leaders claim the March on Jerusalem has even more serious implications beyond a supposed peaceful protest.
“Iran has played a key role in inciting, financing and promoting the ‘Global March on Jerusalem’ as part of its overall strategy to deflect attention from the Iranian nuclear progra
m,” members of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations stated on Monday.
“We see that once again an attempt to bypass direct negotiations in favor of publicity stunts and agitation has failed,” they added.