Introduction

At its 216th General Assembly in early July, the Presbyterian Church (USA) passed, amongst others, several resolutions which have been cause for great alarm among the Jewish community. Attention has focused on three "overtures" (their term for policy resolutions):

• One that endorses divestment from companies doing business in Israel;
• One that condemns the construction of the security barrier in Israel;
• And one which failed that would have ended the national funding for "messianic" congregations that target Jews for proselytization and conversion.

The following talking points are provided to aid in discussing these issues and, importantly, for engaging in dialogue with local Presbyterian communities.

Background & Talking Points on Recent Decisions of Presbyterian Church- USA

http://interreligious.rj.org/pub/pcusa.shtml

I. What do the overtures say and do?
II. What is problematic about these overtures?
III. How is the rest of the Jewish Community responding?
IV. How is the Reform Movement responding?
V. How has the PC-USA responded?
VI. Where do we go from here?

I. What do the overtures say and do?

A. Divestment:

· In Section 7 of Overture 04-32 * On Supporting the Geneva Accord, Urging Israel and Palestine to Implement the Accord" the General Assembly "Refers to Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) with instructions to initiate a process of phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel, in accordance to General Assembly policy on social investing, and to make appropriate recommendations to the General Assembly Council for action." [emphasis added]

· Divestment is the process of removing financial holdings from certain companies or funds, usually based on social or ethical concerns.

· Divestment is a tool which has been used to put economic and political pressure on a nation or government seen as engaging in gross human rights violations.

· Divestment was last successfully used to end apartheid in South Africa in the 1980's, and many Jewish groups were actively involved. (Note: the PC-USA overture on divesting from Israel makes no explicit reference to South Africa or apartheid.)

· PC-USA's general divestment policy * urges divestment and/or proscription of some corporations due to their involvement in military-related production (MR), tobacco (TO) or human rights violations (HR)." The only countries that they have singled out in prior overtures are South Africa and Sudan.

· According to an explanatory statement released by PC-USA , "The assembly authorized exploration of a selective divestment of church funds from those companies whose business in Israel is found to be directly or indirectly causing harm or suffering to innocent people, Palestinian or Israeli. It did not approve a blanket divestment from companies that do business in Israel, as is being reported in some places."

B. The security barrier:

· In Overture 4-33 , the General Assembly requests, "the Stated Clerk make known to the president of the United States, the members of Congress of the United States, [and] the State of Israel[, and the Palestinian National Authority] its opposition to the construction of a wall and other barriers by the State of Israel and further to make known the desire of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that the United States of America make no monetary contribution to the 1.3 billion dollar cost of the construction of this wall, construction of which has already begun and will continue for several years."

· The Overture further explains that "the best hope for security for both Israelis and Palestinians may be found in laying down all forms of aggression on both sides, ending the Israeli occupation, and finding ways to build bridges of peace rather than walls of separation. Good neighborly relations, rather than mutual isolation and suspicion, are urgently needed between Israel and its neighbors in Palestine and the Middle East."

C. Messianic congregations:

· Messianic congregations are churches that mask themselves in Jewish tradition in order to target Jews for proselytization and conversion.

· As reported by the Forward, "assembly participants voted 260 to 233 to reject a proposal to stop future funding of messianic congregations. The vote came after a debate last year that arose over revelations that the church had been funding a messianic congregation in Philadelphia accused of using deceptive tactics to attract Jews."

· According to a later statement released by PC-USA , "Here it is important to note that primary decisions regarding the funding of new church developments are made at the presbytery (regional) level of our denomination; in nearly all cases, national funding for such work is made only to complement funds already committed by presbyteries and synods with the understanding that presbyteries take the lead in determining the appropriate projects."

II. What is problematic about these overtures?

A. On endorsing divestment from Israel:

· Setting a double standard

o While the PC-USA overture calls for an end to Palestinian suicide bombings and recognizes that such acts are "abhorrent and inexcusable by all measures," it nonetheless targets only Israel, and not the Palestinians, for economic and political sanction.

o There is no PC-USA overture urging the Palestinian leadership to end corruption within the Palestinian Authority, to cease the incitement of terrorist acts, to stop the misuse of international relief funds, or to encourage political reform.

o Israel is singled out for sanction, not only before the Palestinians, but before nations, such as Iran, North Korea, or China, widely known for committing gross human rights violations far greater than any found in accusations made against Israel.

o Israel is the only democracy in the region. Not withstanding her faults and missteps as she wrestles to deal with legitimate security concerns, Israel has been and remains a far more open, tolerant, and democratic nation than any other in the Middle East.

· Threatening Israel's security

o An Israeli economy weakened by divestment, if shaped to include military contractors, could weaken Israel's ability to defend against terrorism.

· Damaging the prospects for peace

o Divestment from companies doing business in Israel will further depress Israel's struggling economy; economic stability is a key to sustaining popular support for the peace process.

o Israel already feels isolated and hated by the international community. A movement for divestment would foster that feeling of alienation and could lead to Israel's complete retreat from international involvement with the peace process.

· Endangering Jewish-Presbyterian relations

o The safety and security of Israel is an essential concern for the American-Jewish community. The repercussions of divestment could damage long-established ties between Jewish synagogues and Presbyterian churches and could weaken important alliances between national Jewish and Presbyterian organizations.

· Discrediting legitimate criticisms of Israeli policies

o We believe that legitimate criticism of Israeli policies comes from of a love for the Jewish state and a deep concern for her peace and security. One-sided initiatives that threaten Israel's very existence -- such as divestment -- discredit what may be important and well-considered criticisms of specific Israeli actions.

o The Reform Jewish Movement and our progressive Jewish allies have not refrained from being critical of Israel when the specific situation merits it.

· Ignoring other avenues for supporting peace

o Rather than divest from companies doing business in Israel, why not invest in organizations doing coexistence and reconciliation work between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East? These groups are laying the groundwork for peace by building bridges between divided peoples, and are desperately in need of increased funding.

B. On condemning Israel's security barrier:

· The overture fails to recognize the legitimate security reasons for the security barrier in defending against Palestinian terrorism.

· The overture implies that the security barrier is a wall for the majority of its path, when, in fact, it is only a wall for approximately five miles and a fence in all other places.

· While the U.N.'s International Court of Justice found the security barrier to be in violation of international law only where its route goes beyond the Green Line, this overture opposes the entire construction of the security barrier, which has been extremely successfully in diminishing the amount of attacks against Israeli civilians.

· Concern for the route of the fence and its effect on the humanitarian conditions of Palestinians has been raised by many organizations, including the Reform Movement and Israel's own High Court of Justice. However, concern for the lives of innocent Palestinians must be matched by concern for the lives of innocent Israelis.

C. On continuing to fund messianic churches:

· Messianic congregations falsely advertise and target Jews for proselytization and conversion.

· Funding for such unabashed efforts to convert Jews directly threatens the very lifeblood of American Jewry.

III. How is the rest of the Jewish Community responding?

Anti-Defamation League
The ADL issued a statement on July 22 : "ADL Urges Dialogue With Presbyterian Church to Address Concerns With Church Policy On Jews And Israel." The statement criticizes both the PC-USA's support of proselytization of Jews and its one-sided criticism of Israel. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, and Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, ADL Director of Interfaith Affairs - quoted together in the statement - proposed meeting with PC-USA's leadership for a face-to-face discussion of these resolutions.

American Jewish Committee
The AJC has sent a personal letter to Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Stated Clerk of the PCUSA General Assembly, explaining their concerns with the resolutions and asking for a meeting not only on their behalf but with a consortium of Jewish groups, including the URJ. They decided not to go public with the letter because they don't feel that would accomplish any helpful goal. However, they did send the letter to their colleagues in other Jewish and Christian organizations. They are pleased that other national Christian denominations are not coming to the defense of the PCUSA at this moment; this is all the more reason, in their view, that the Jewish response must be measured: blowing the issue out of proportion might push other churches to rally behind the PCUSA in a divisive and destructive way.

The AJC is also pushing its local chapters to meet with their local presbyteries and Presbyterian churches to maintain communication lines and see that their local churches may not even accept these resolutions in whole or in part. (view letter and talking points )

B'nai B'rith
On July 21, 2004 B'nai B'rith issued an angry statement : "B'nai B'rith Calls for the End of Interfaith Dialogue With the Presbyterian Church (USA)." In this statement, B'nai B'rith calls "on the leadership of the Presbyterian Church USA to recant these three hostile declarations and make a good-faith effort to distinguish between terror and defending oneself against it." The statement concludes that "interfaith dialogue will one day be possible" but that it is "up to the Presbyterian leadership to take the next step."

IV. How is the Reform Movement responding?

The Reform Jewish Movement has sharply criticized the PC-USA Overtures and has immediately called for dialogue with the PC-USA leadership in order to address the offensive policies without disregarding or destroying our well-established relationship with the Presbyterian Church.

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the URJ, and Rabbi Paul Menitoff, Executive Vice President of the CCAR, sent a letter on July 22 to Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Stated Clerk of the PC-USA General Assembly, expressing our Movement's concerns and asking for a meeting. Rabbis Yoffie and Menitoff denounced the PC-USA's harsh one-sided critique of the Israeli occupation when there is no equivalent rebuke of the Palestinian terror structure. The PCUSA's leadership was very receptive to a meeting to address our concerns; it will take place as soon as possible.

Rabbis Yoffie and Menitoff also sent their letter to our Movement's rabbis and congregations so that they may be aware of the events as they development. In addition, we have developed this online resource guide as a tool for rabbis, educators, and other community leaders.