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July 23, 2004/Av 5 5764, Vol. 56, No. 44
Under the radar - againEditorialOnce again, a major American religious organization has adopted positions that are harmful to Israel and Jews.The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted at its 216th General Assembly, June 26-July 3 in Richmond, Va., to condemn Israel for building a security fence, calling it a deterrent to peace, when in fact its purpose is deterring Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Israel from the West Bank. The Presbyterian national body also voted to continue funding missionary activities directed toward Jews in the United States with a view to converting them to Christianity, and urged the divestment of church holdings in multinational corporations that do business with Israel. There has been very little reporting on these recent declarations by the Presbyterians, one of the largest denominations of Protestant Christianity. The Presbyterian Church (USA) boasts some 2.5 million members and 21,000 ordained ministers in more than 11,000 congregations - including more than two dozen in the Greater Phoenix area. The Presbyterian Church (USA) offers seemingly plausible explanations for its assembly votes on its Web site, www.pcusa.org; however the rationale falters when examined carefully. In condemning what Israel describes as a "security fence," the Presbyterians claim the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians "is rooted in Israel's continued occupation of Palestinian territories." No mention is made of Jerusalem's position that the land is "disputed territory" or the fact that Israel reports a dramatic decline in the number of suicide attacks on its citizens since the fence was erected last year. Word of the Presbyterians' resolutions came as Jewish leaders were hailing the results of an historic international interfaith meeting in Buenos Aires July 5-8. Officials of the Roman Catholic Church, for the first time, had signed onto a document that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. The Jewish Forward reports that Jewish communal leaders also signed the document, which calls for "the total rejection of anti-Semitism in all its forms, including anti-Zionism, as a more recent manifestation of anti-Semitism. We continue to urge you, our readers, to stay informed of these developments. Utilize your computer by surfing the Internet with such key words as "Israel," "Jews," "Christians" and "Palestinians." The mainstream media frequently fail to cover these issues, because - in part - they lack the sensationalism that so often draws their attention. |
