|
|
|
||||||||
|
PRESBYTERIANS FOR ISRAEL
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Please e-mail your comments and indicate if you are requesting that they be posted. I retain the right to decide which comments will be posted and to edit them without changing their substance-- Ernest Kelly, webmaster
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
THIS SITE IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE PCUSA OR ANY OTHER DENOMINATION.
DONATIONS ARE NEITHER SOLICITED NOR ACCEPTED.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page is maintained by a longstanding member and elder in the Presbyterian Church USA as an act of apology and atonement to our Jewish brethren for the ongoing attacks of my own denomination and other "mainline churches" on the survival of the state of Israel.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
THE "MAINLINE" ATTACKS ON ISRAEL
1. THE "DIVESTMENT" RESOLUTION
In 2004, the Presbyterian Church USA became the first American denomination to call for "divestment" in companies doing business with Israel. The action was taken by the General Assembly, which is composed of 50% clergy and strongly influenced by church bureaucrats. An extensive poll showed that the resolution is unpopular with average Presbyterians. Laymen opposed the resolution by a 42-28 margin and elders by 46-30. It's main supporters were "specialized clergy"--the non-pastors who dominate the bureaucracy. They favored the resolution 64-24.
Although, other "mainline" denominations have balked at "divestment," they and their lobbyists have for years waged ecclesiastical war against Israel. In 2004, a four-year study found that human rights criticisms by "mainline" churches were directed 37% against Israel, 31% against the United States, and another 31% against all the rest of the world! None were directed at China, North Korea or Saudi Arabia. Of the 15 worst human rights abusers worldwide, (as identified by Freedom House) only five received any criticism at all. What kind of prejudices are at work to produce such results?
2. UNPRINCIPLED ATTACKS ON ISRAEL
Philosophers talk about "The Principle of Formal Justice"-- the basic idea that like cases ought to be treated alike. If Israel is singled out for divestment, then it should somehow be worse than other nations. Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the General Assembly, assures us that this action is "part of a larger commitment to human rights and social justice all around the world." If that were true, divestment would apply to the worst dictators. Our churchmen pretend to have reviewed all the horrors of the earth —the gross human rights violations of China; the arc of murderous despotisms from Pyongyang to Zimbabwe; the rape of Tibet; Russia’s relapse into autocracy and imperialism; the nuclear fanatics in Tehran—and decided that divestment should fall on Israel’s tiny and embattled democracy. There is no principled basis on which such a result could be reached.
3. DENIAL OF ISRAEL'S RIGHT OF SELF-DEFENSE
The "mainline" churches also deny Israel’s duty to defend its people. They demand the removal of a security barrier which is breaking the back of terrorism. This demand is not made naively but with full knowledge that the barrier is already saving hundreds of innocent lives. In a spasm of candor, one top Presbyterian spokesman admitted, “The security barrier has cut down the number of civilian deaths in Israel by as much as 95%.” He continued with the mind-numbing assertion that only Israeli lives are being saved, and the barrier must still be destroyed. How can American churchmen, secure in a great continental power, have the arrogance to demand that vulnerable Israelis sacrifice their lives and those of their families?
(Rev. Rock's assertion about the barrier saving only Israeli lives is untrue as well as pointless. At the height of the terror, there were an average of 88 Palestinian and 35 Israeli deaths per month; that declined to 5 Israeli and 36 Palestinian deaths per month in 2005. The defeat of terrorism is saving lives on all sides.
4. CHURCH BUREAUCRATS ARE BIASED AGAINST ISRAEL
The very language of the church spokesmen shows their anti-Israel agenda. For example, they refer to the outburst of terrorist murders following the Camp David negotiations as the "Al Aqsa Intifada." This suggests that responsibility for the murders does not lie with the bombers but with Ariel Sharon for having the temerity to visit the site of his ancestors' temple. The reality is that Arafat and his cronies returned from Camp David planning the second intifada well before Sharon's visit. As reported in the authoritative memri.org, the Palestinian Authority's communications minister admitted that "this Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat's return from the Camp David negotiations."
Another sign of bias is endless repetition of the tired lie that the occupation is the “root cause” of the conflict. The church parrots these words of anti-Semitic websites and pseudo-intellectuals. In doing so, it ignores the facts of history as well as the basic principles of cause and effect. How could an occupation that began in 1967 be the “root” of a conflict that had already lasted for decades and caused three major wars? The murder of Jews in Palestine goes back to the Passover pogroms in 1920. It continued throughout the British Mandate. In 1948, a bare three years after the Holocaust, the infant state of Israel was invaded with vows of massacre and extermination. Terrorism continued relentlessly whenever war was impractical. Finally, in 1967, Nasser’s attempt on Israel’s life started the occupation-- almost half a century after the first pogroms. A very belated “root”!
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Go to LINKS&NEWS
Learn about PCUSA's
Review the history of the
rejection of Israel's right to exist: REJECTIONISM
Visit Presbyterians Concerned for Jewish Christian Relations
SIgn PETITION for a special Meeting to repeal divestment
E-MAIL YOUR CHURCH OFFICIALS:
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |