Wiesenthal Center: Presbyterian Vote To Vacate Anti-Israel Divestment - “A Turning Point In Ending Campaign To Demonize Jewish State”

June 21, 2006

WIESENTHAL CENTER: PRESBYTERIAN VOTE TO VACATE ANTI-ISRAEL DIVESTMENT-“A TURNING POINT IN ENDING CAMPAIGN TO DEMONIZE JEWISH STATE”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today applauded the move of the 217^th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to replace its anti-Israel divestment resolution with one of positive investment in projects promoting peace and cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians.
 
“We hope that this will mark a turning point in ending the unjust campaign by churches, academic groups and NGOs to demonize Israel,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center, one of the largest Jewish human rights NGOs. “We are also encouraged by the fact this dramatic change came about as the result of the activism of leaders within PCUSA, some of whom traveled recently to the Holy Land and put a human face on the suffering and struggle of the people of Israel."  The Wiesenthal Center has been in the forefront of the struggle against anti-Israel campaigns, first launched at the infamous U.N. Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in September 2001.

Rabbi Cooper and Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Center's Director of Interfaith Affairs, attended the General Assembly in Birmingham to lend support to a determined group of Presbyterians who had worked to rescind the divestment resolution of two years ago that was so unpopular with the rank and file of the Church, and proved to be a huge barrier to Church unity. The Wiesenthal Center also brought Dr. Judea Pearl, father of the Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl who was brutally slain by Jihadists in Pakistan. Dr Pearl, who has devoted himself to reaching out and strengthening moderate Muslims, told delegates… “No one in the Israeli or Palestinian peace camp will be well served by divestment. The only ones to gain are the terrorists, who take it as a sign of support;” sentiments later echoed by former CIA Chief James Woolsey, himself an active Presbyterian, who testified that “a vote for divestment is a vote for Hamas.”
 
Addressing a committee that considered over forty overtures for and against divestment, Rabbi Adlerstein spoke of the damage that had been done by the divestment resolution with regard to relations with American Jewry and emphasized that, “Jewish voices who back anti-Israel boycotts do not speak for the overwhelming majority of American Jews, who remain steadfastly supportive of the State of Israel.” The committee’s report apologized for the pain caused to the Jewish community and asked for a new season of mutual understanding and dialogue.

Last month, Rabbis Cooper and Adlerstein accompanied a group of 11 Presbyterian leaders on their trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

For more information, contact the Center’s public relations department, 310-553-9036.