DETROIT, Mich. — Various organizations are responding to the 221st General Assembly’s decision to divest from three businesses — Caterpillar, Inc., Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions –that sell non-lethal products to the Israeli military by a vote of 310-303. They include:
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean: “We are shocked beyond words. With the crimes against humanity occurring in Syria and Iraq, with the Middle East in chaos, with African Christians regularly selected by terrorists for murder because of their faith, PCUSA chooses to flex its moral muscles by aiding and abetting those pledged to do away with the Jewish State … We are witness today to an ugly spectacle of righteous hypocrisy, as an American church punishes the sole Middle East democracy for the sin of safeguarding its security while some of its Palestinian neighbors pass out sweets to celebrate the abduction of Israeli teenagers.”
Stand With Us, Supporting Israel Around the World: “The good news is that despite efforts by anti-Israel extremists, voting members realized that divestment was part of the toxic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement [BDS], and added amendments explicitly stating that PCUSA does not endorse global BDS,” said Roberta Seid, PhD, StandWithUs Director of Education/Research. “The bad news is that BDS has groomed a Presbyterian contingent which manipulates committee rules to hijack the agenda, skew the debate and silence alternative views. The committee barely heard about Palestinian terrorism or about Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that governs Gaza and just kidnapped three Israeli teenagers, or about Israel’s peace offers which Palestinian leaders continually reject. Well-meaning Presbyterians were simply misled. … The Middle East Committee ignored the atrocities committed daily in Iraq, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere in the region. Instead it focused only on condemning Israel and its policies which exist to protect the lives of innocent civilians. Presbyterians seem to have lost their moral compass and violated their own oft-repeated injunction to do no harm and promote peace.”
NGO Monitor: “A blow to morality and peacemaking” in the Middle East. “The divestment resolutions were pressed on the PCUSA delegates by supporters of the international anti-Israel boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign. The vote shows that most delegates either failed to recognize that BDS seeks to end the existence of Israel or did understand that and supported the resolution nonetheless ,” said Yitzhak Santis, chief programs officer, NGO Monitor. … “The obsessive, singular focus on Israel demonstrates a myopic double-standard applied to the Jewish state by this church.”
Union for Reform Judaism, President Rabbi Rick Jacobs: “Based on today’s vote, especially when taken together with ‘Zionism Unsettled,’ we can reach no conclusion other than that PCUSA itself does not share those baseline commitments and that they are not a partner for joint work on Israel-Palestine peace issues. Whatever the intent of some who supported this resolution, this vote will be widely understood as endorsement of and support for the BDS Movement. We urge the majority of Presbyterian clergy and lay leaders who, we believe, reject the approach of the national denomination in supporting BDS to let themselves now be heard. We urge the denomination to reverse this position. We need to be working together on this vital issue and there cannot be a true partnership when one side endorses positions that delegitimize the other’s rights and core values.”
5 Comments. Leave new
Well-meaning Presbyterians were simply misled. …
I don’t even know how to respond to a statement like this! Through this vote and all the years of hate speech, PCUSA has made it official, they support Hamas! The natural response of Caterpillar, HP, and Motorola will logically be,,,, Finally, those nutjobs sold their stock, we’re rid of them!
Ignorance of the socio-political situation has once again prevailed in the latest decision of the General Assembly’s Divestment decision. Radical anti- Israel forces in the middle east scored another point against Israel. The next holocaust has moved one step closer. The removal of the $21 million dollar investment is of minimal financial value. It is the message of non support for Israel that does the damage. History will record this among other wrong actions of the UPUSA.
Richard Mackintosh, Th.M.
The liberal, left leaners , so-called GA should themselves be divested of their ability to continue voting against the will of the Presbyterian laity. It is quite apparent they are apostate. Why are they continuing to represent the Presbyterian Church (USA). They have usurped legitimate power and wield it against the very people they “reportedly” represent. Sound familiar?
I would have voted against this year’s motion (as I voted & spoke against the 220th GA motion). But:
1) in fact this year’s version is pretty mild, all things considered
. . . (e.g., in a liberal GA, a mild divestment motion barely passed)
2) The BDS side has run a good ground game, while the anti-BDS has run a rotten ground game
. . . (e.g., the last-minute power-lunch-with-Bibi offer, which probably lost votes)
3) The harsh and shrill condemnations coming from many quarters is counterproductive. Get the tone under control. There are winnable strategies vs. BDS in PCUSA. They don’t involve whining.
I can’t seem to find a list anywhere of the delegates to the GA, especially those who voted for BDS. Myself and many others want to make sure we divest them.
My suggestion is for members of PCUSA churches is to find another church. Some churches are leaving the denomination. I understand this presents difficulty as the denomination retains ownership of the property. I suggest legal action, as some Episcopal churches that have switched schisms have successfully retained their property. Not in the legal profession, but it would seem reasonable that a group of people who donate money to purchase property shouldn’t then be required to either repurchase their property from their denomination or be evicted from the property when their denomination has significantly altered the values that existed at the time of joining.
I suspect church chasing may become as lucrative as ambulance chasing for ambitious attorneys 🙂