Israel Matzav

Presbyterians reject BDS

It was close, but the Presbyterian Church (USA) has rejected a proposal to divest its investments in Israel. The vote of its General Assembly was 333-331.

By a margin of 333-331 with two abstentions, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), being held in Pittsburgh, rejected a motion to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions.

The church's General Assembly instead passed a minority report that avoided divestment, but encouraged investing in businesses that operate for peace in Palestine, according to the Post-Gazette.

The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body for the church, which has some 2 million members.

What's amazing is that it was this close. Even Americans for Peace Now and J Street came out against divestment. 'Jewish Voice for Peace' was in favor.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that even many left-leaning members of the Church were opposed to divestment.

The Rev. Susan Andrews, a former moderator of the General Assembly and influential liberal in the church, opposed divestment, saying that the church must remember both the current suffering of Palestinians and the centuries of Christian persecution of Jews. Jewish leaders, including a rabbi who had brought interfaith greetings to that assembly that morning, had argued that any support for the divestment movement would seriously harm relations between Jews and Presbyterians.

Others tried to argue that the move was against these three companies specifically and not against Israel generally.

The Rev. Brian Ellison, chairman of a denominational committee that researches and monitors socially responsible investing, had argued that the effort to divest in three companies did not mean broad divestment from Israel. The church continues to invest its pension funds in many companies that work in Israel, he said. But these three had been accused of egregious actions, such as Caterpillar's supply of militarized bulldozers used to demolish Palestinians homes, and had failed to respond to eight years of dialogue.

With Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola "we have reached the end of the line," he said. "The dialogue will produce no results."

Read the whole thing.

YNet reports that there was also some hysteria.

But Rick Ufford-Chase, who served as a General Assembly moderator, the church's highest elected office, when the divestment debate began in 2004, said he was heartbroken by the outcome Thursday.

"No investment will make any difference if we fail to dismantle the apparatus of the occupation," said Ufford-Chase, executive director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. He told the delegates they should be "naming the occupation for what it is: a form of apartheid. We must stand with our Palestinian brothers and sisters."

Apartheid? No. And anyone who calls it that doesn't deserve to be part of the debate.

Labels: BDS, Christians

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:48 AM