The World Jewish Congress (WJC) has condemned a resolution adopted Friday by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA which endorses divestment from three American companies that allegedly “profit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.”
The General Assembly voted by a razor-thin margin — 310-303 — to sell stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions.
“The fact that the church assembly voted to approve this injurious resolution even as Israel is searching frantically for the three abducted Jewish teenagers, including one American citizen, sends a terrible signal to the American and international public. Clearly, the church is on the wrong side of the Middle East conflict,” WJC Secretary General Robert Singer said.
“This vote will only serve to embolden those who want to see Israel destroyed,’’ he added.
At the 2012 assembly, church delegates narrowly rejected a divestment initiative. Jewish-Presbyterian relations already were strained following the publication in January of a study guide created by the church’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network. The document entitled 'Zionism Unsettled' depicted Zionism as a false theology. Delegates in Detroit rejected this document.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination and the largest Presbyterian denomination in America. It was established by the 1983 merger of the Presbyterian Church in the United States with the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and today has around 1.7 million members.
Singer said : “The distorted picture of a monstrous, uncaring Israel advanced by some at the parley in Detroit seems to show that elements of Presbyterian Church (USA) are barreling backward into old-style Jew hatred. I’m sure that the overwhelming majority of grassroots Presbyterians would be appalled to understand what is being wrought here in their name.”
Another major advocacy Jewish group, The American Jewish Committee, said the vote was "driven by hatred of Israel."
Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the American Union for Reform Judaism, spoke before the General Assembly Thursday as he warned that a divestment vote would be taken as a sign that the church has aligned itself with those in the “Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions” (BDS) movement who vilify Israel and even question its right to exist.
“It would be an attack on the Jewish community and religion,” especially in the wake of the publication of “Zionism Unsettled,” Jacobs said. “I don’t want the commissioners (assembly delegates) to think they can vote for divestment and be part of the global BDS movement and think that they can still stand with us.”