Temperatures Rise Between Presbyterians, Jews
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) was bombarded with accusations of being “pro-Palestine” and “anti-Israel” as it tried to explain why it is considering divesting companies profiting from Israel
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) was bombarded with accusations of being “pro-Palestine” and “anti-Israel” as it tried to explain why it is considering divesting from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“The problem with all of this is we are not talking with each other, we are talking at each other,” said Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, director of interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), as he spoke to the PC(USA)’s interfaith relations coordinator, Rev. Jay Rock. “And we’re not saying the things that facilitate dialogue.”
According to the Presbyterian News Service (PNS), the ADL invited Rev. Rock to speak at its annual National Executive Committee meeting in West Palm Beach, FL., so as to explain the “church’s side of the divestment story and to discuss interfaith relations”.
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“My aim this morning is to try to move us beyond the fog of misrepresentation that has characterized so many descriptions of what Presbyterians are doing,” Rock told the 150 attendees. “And to provide you with a basic description of our actions and some information about the perspectives that lie behind them.”
The divestment controversy began last summer, during the PC(USA)’s general assembly. At the assembly, the majority of delegates voted to begin the “selective divestment” of companies profiting from the Israeli occupation and construction of the separation/protection barrier between the two nations.
The resolution was highly criticized by Jewish groups, including the ADL, which charged the PC(USA) of being biased against Israel.
During Saturday’s discussion, Rock strived to explain that the denomination supports a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
“I want to assure you that the Presbyterian Church did not take the actions of last summer out of a hatred or dislike of Jews,” said Rock, whose father was Jewish and mother a Presbyterian. “In fact, many Presbyterians understand why most Jews are upset by the actions that we have taken.”
However, his comment fell on deaf ears.
“When we hear ‘phased, selective divestiture,’ the Jewish community hears economic boycott,” Bretton-Granatoor said, according to PNS. “They should have been able to understand how the Jewish community was going to react.”
Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, said divestment talk are also offensive because of the ties the PC(USA) makes between Israel and apartheid-era South Africa.
“What galls us is the moral hypocrisy,” Foxman said, who further charged the denomination of taking sides with Palestine. “I didn’t know that the Palestinian narrative was the Presbyterian Church’s narrative. Well, if that’s the case we’re in a different ballgame.”
“You have nothing else to do on the moral plane, on the spiritual plane?” Foxman asked. “It’s beyond me. Either it’s the ultimate naiveté or it’s bias. And you know what, we feel it’s bias.”
“You come here respectfully,” Foxman said, “but you defend exactly the same things you defended when we first encountered” each other months ago.
Bretton-Granatoor also criticized the PC(USA) for taking its divestment policies to American college campuses and spreading the policy to other Policy bodies.
Despite such heavy criticisms, Rock did not budge on his view of why divestment was necessary.
“We join Christian leaders in Palestine and decent people everywhere in speaking out against suicide bombings and other acts of terror committed by Palestinians,” Rock said. However, “our view is that there is a moral problem with terrorism and that there is a moral problem with the occupation. So we need to talk about them both.”
Rock further explained that the divestment guidelines, drafted in early November 2004, entails that not all companies are targeted in the policy.
“[the policy] calls for engagement with corporations and the possible divestment from corporations because they are involved in activities that we think stand in the way of a peaceful resolution in this situation,” said Rock.
Ultimately Rock said Christians and Jews should strive for greater peace since the two are “bound together as two people in one covenant of grace . . . both ‘elected by God for witness to the world.’”
“We are at the beginning of a process with the intent to build better understanding and stronger relationships with the Jewish community and to better inform our own practice of living as faithful Christians side by side with our spiritual siblings — you, our bothers and sisters in the Jewish community.”
Rock was also one of the featured speakers at the PC(USA)-sponsored “Steps Toward Peace in Israel and Palestine” conference at the denomination’s headquarters in Louisville, KY, on Feb. 10-12.
According to PNS, the event included a lecture on the history of the region, panel presentations by Palestinian Christians, a teleconference on human rights issues with a rabbi in Israel, and roundtable discussions by conference participants on what information they really need to equip them back at home.
