Worship leader: Don’t pay U.S. taxes to support Israel
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 19, 2001
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Presbyterians should consider not paying the portion of their federal tax money that supports Israel’s security tactics in the Mideast, Inez Allan of Bellevue, Wash., told the General Assembly Council on Feb. 18.
Allan, a member of the council, gave that advice as part of her role in leading the council’s worship service that opened its week-long triannual meeting. Her recommendations were not formally considered.
She traveled to Israel recently as a member of a group representing the Presbyterian Church (USA). “It was not what I would call a happy experience,” she said.
She cited what she described as a number of injustices committed by Israelis against Palestinians, but mentioned none of the terrorist acts by Palestinians against Israelis.
“I have many dear Jewish friends,” she said. “I say to my Jewish friends, ‘Where are you? You are people of the Torah … Is your security more important than your belief in God?'”
“Where is our anger toward our government for participating in this [in support of the government of Israel] through our tax money?” Allan asked, urging members of the council to “contact chairs of committees who send money to Israel and [who] ask for no accountability.”
Allan said she has friends who withhold tax money to protest federal support of causes with which they disagree. “I have never been willing to do that, but I’m close to it now,” she said.
Although Allan said both sides “need our prayers, our voice,” she criticized only the Israelis and not the Palestinians.
One of her greatest concerns, she said, is the loss of Christian witness in the Mideast. The percentage of Christians in Israel has declined from 26 percent to about 5 percent, she said, but those who remain are committed that “these churches will not become museums.”
Allan said she worshiped at St. Andrews Scots Presbyterian Church in Jerusalem. “I was one of 22 people in worship,” she said. “One of the people there had spent two hours getting to church because she had to avoid the barricades.
“This was my third trip to the Holy Land. It was the first time I saw the destruction of businesses, homes and orchards. I’ve seen some of this on TV, but it just didn’t have the impact of seeing it in person. It has all been destroyed in the name of security of the settlements” of Israelis.