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US Presbyterian Church officials promote the BDS Movement and justify Palestinian terrorism According to NGO Monitor, a new document published by the US Presbyterian Church promotes the BDS Movement against Israel and downplays Palestinian terrorism: “International law gives an occupied people the right to armed struggle to resist the occupier.”

Source: US Presbyterian Church officials promote the BDS Movement | JerusalemOnline.com

According to NGO Monitor, a new document published by the US Presbyterian Church promotes the BDS Movement against Israel and downplays Palestinian terrorism. The report is titled “Israel-Palestine: For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace” and it was released by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy of the US Presbyterian Church. The report will be presented at the 2015 PCUSA General Assembly.

Other NGOs that were relied upon for this report include Sabeel, which leads church divestment campaigns, supports a one-state solution, and promotes liberation theology that displays Jesus as a modern-day Palestinian who is oppressed by Israel and the Jewish people; Christ at a Checkpoint, which promotes anti-Semitic themes such a replacement theology, utilizes Christian rhetoric in order to demonize Israel, and also makes comparisons between Jesus and the modern-day Palestinians; and Badil, which supports a Palestinian right of return, declared an anti-Semitic cartoon the winner of their cartoon contest in 2010, and whose representatives went on a speaking tour together with Zochrot in order to teach American college students about the Nakba.

US Presbyterian Church representatives also met with representatives of other highly politicized NGOs including B’tselem, which has been accused of misrepresenting international law, employing skewed statistics, and promoting inaccurate research in order to pursue their political agenda which is apparently against Israel as Tuvia Tenenbom interviewed a B’tselem researcher named Atef Abu A-Rub for his 2014 book ‘Catch the Jew’ and he referred to the Holocaust as a lie and accused Germany of giving money to the Jews; Breaking the Silence, who has donors who give money conditional upon them coming up with testimonies against the IDF and whose members partook in a Jews for Justice for Palestinians flotilla, and Rabbis for Human Rights, whose President Rabbi Arik Aschermwan was exposed by Tenenbom as holding anti-Israel positions despite claiming to be impartial, displaying ignorance about the Bible, as not interacting regularly with the people in the territories that he claims to care about and whose own wife claims: “No facts will persuade him.”

Based upon their consultations with such organizations without bothering to speak with others who hold a different point of view, the US Presbyterian Church document compares Israeli settlers to Hamas terrorists, portrayed Israeli strikes against Hamas as an attack upon the democratically elected leaders of the Palestinian Authority, and they argued that even though Israel claims the Palestinians implement terror attacks, “international law gives an occupied people the right to armed struggle to resist the occupier.” The report also claims that despite the rocket attacks and other violence that characterizes the Knife Intifada, Israelis live relatively secure lives, thus implying that Israeli arguments in favor of having strong security measures don’t hold validity.

Additionally, they noted “the traditional freedom of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other religious, civic, and private organizations in the United States to determine their own practices of investment or divestment, boycott or selective purchasing.” They called upon General Assembly members to read documents like Christ at a Checkpoint and Kairos Palestine, which criticized Israel for imprisoning terrorists, supports a Palestinian right of return to Israel proper, blamed Israel instead of the Palestinian Authority for the shrinking Christian population in the territories even though the Palestinian territories had a positive Christian population growth rate under Israeli control and the population only started to shrink when the Palestinian Authority took over, and referred to Palestinian terror attacks as resistance to the occupation. Both the Christ at a Checkpoint and Kairos Palestine documents oppose Jewish self-determination and call for BDS against Israel. In conclusion, they called upon General Assembly members to hold hearings regarding US military aid to Israel, to enforce US laws on the labeling of Israeli settlement products and to bar Israelis from benefiting from the US Visa Waiver Program.

“This report, based on selective claims, myths and distortions from anti-peace NGOs promotes boycotts under the guise of religious responsibility,” Professor Gerald Steinberg said. “For years some factions of the Presbyterian Church have echoed calls by radical anti-peace NGOs promoting discriminatory attacks against Israel, while ignoring murderous Palestinian terror. Last year, these groups convinced the PCUSA to vote to join the BDS attack. Now, the ACSWP is again promoting this agenda, including the promotion of anti-Semitic theological themes. In order to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians, PCUSA’s 2016 General Assembly must reject the blatant bias, distortions and immorality of the ACSWP report.”