“The resolution that calls for Israel to dismantle the separation barrier, but offers no call for an to end the terror attacks against Israelis that made it necessary, is on its face, racist. ‘Anti-Semitic’ is too scientific, too polite a word for that resolution.” Well said. From the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Charles:
A faction within the United Church of Christ is attempting to prevent the passage of resolutions calling for selective divestment from Israel at the church’s biannual general synod, currently taking place in Atlanta.
UCC delegates from New England are calling for “selective investment” in pro-peace groups in Israel and the Palestinian Authority instead of punitive financial measures called for in the resolutions, which are expected to be brought for a vote on Monday.
One self-described “Massachusetts WASP” at the conference is especially vocal about the measures — one of which calls for divestment from any Israeli or American companies “profiting from” the “occupation” and another which calls for the immediate dismantling of Israel’s security barrier.
Dexter Van Zile, a fifth-generation UCC-affiliated churchgoer but not an official delegate to the synod, is representing the Judeo-Christian Alliance, an initiative of the David Project which attempts to counter anti-Israel sentiment in Protestant churches. He told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that he feared passage of the resolutions would “weaponize Christian theology to demonize the Israeli state.”
“The resolution that calls for Israel to dismantle the separation barrier, but offers no call for an to end the terror attacks against Israelis that made it necessary, is on its face, racist. ‘Anti-Semitic’ is too scientific, too polite a word for that resolution,” he said.