Divestment will help, as will boycott and sanctions. But justice demands that UN and NATO impose resolution just as involuntary, disruptive and humiliating to Israel as Israel has wreaked upon occupied Palestine for generations. The Jewish State must be made to recognize an armed Palestine with externally enforced autonomy, eviction of all settlers, true contiguity encompassing Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem together, neither pinched nor parceled, and pay punitive reparations.

I am shocked by this -- it is factually incorrect to suggest a) that the PResbyterian resolution 'targets' Israel rather than the occupation or b) that the Presbyterian church is making 'common cause' with anti-Semitic networks. If you read the relevant church statements https://pc-biz.org/IOBView.aspx?m=ro&id=4021 you will find this language “[7. As we divest from those companies that profit from nonpeaceful pursuits, we lift up our continuing investment in those operating in Israel and Palestine that support peaceful pursuits.]” to emphasize that investments continue in PEACEFUL business activities in Israel.

For decades, Jewish faith communities & Presbyterians have worked closely in all sorts of social justice labors and in interfaith dialogue. I, for one, am a Presbyterian who feels strongly that Jewish contributions to America's spiritual, moral, intellectual & political life have been splendid -- uplifting our general culture with marvelous ethical critique, insights & ethical passion. It has been a terrible shock in the last decade as key organizations in the organized Jewish community have attacked our sincere & painstaking efforts to follow what we understand as God's call to work for healing, peace & social justice in the horrible tragedies of the Middle East. How dare you stereotype & distort what we have been saying & doing? It has been an exceptionally painful & labored process in which we have struggled to listen to all voices. You might disagree with our conclusions & we might very well be wrong. But, why aren't you focusing on the SUBSTANCE of our arguments? Why are you focusing more on categorizing (unfairly) the messenger, rather than the message? Why are you miscasting us as linking ourselves with horrific anti-Semitic forces -- when we have explicitly fought against such? That we are involved in "campaigns" that"reflect a deep-seated hatred for and rejection of Israel."??? COME ON, GET REAL! We are your allies, neighbors, co-workers on so many social justice labors! do not stereotype us! This sort of statement is damaging interfaith relationships! Are you listening to us? Or, are you trying to manipulate us?

Dear Ori,

As a former APN intern and someone who deeply respects your reporting, I am upset to read your statement smearing the U.S. Presbyterian Church's effort toward responsible investing.

As stated in Recommendation 2 of its report, the Presbyterian Church is divesting from three companies that provide support to the settlements, the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli-only roads, and construction of the barrier wall beyond the 1967 Green Line. I would think that such activities clearly constitute violations of Palestinian human rights, and I am confused to see you claim that they only "allegedly" do so.

Given the report's content that I have referred to above, I am puzzled at your statement that the Presbyterian Church's divestment is "targeting Israel rather than the occupation".

As a Jew, I feel endangered when right-wing groups cheapen the word antisemitism by applying it to critics of Israel. As someone who has encountered antisemitism and been in the proximity of two fatal antisemitic shootings (one in Connecticut and one in DC), I am sad to see APN partake in this same behavior which makes the word meaningless.

I also feel that such statements will discredit APN in the eyes of many young Jews like myself. You appear to be playing a part in derailing a sincere interfaith effort (which includes Jews) toward ending the Israeli occupation, and I would like to know why.

Sincerely,

Dan Fischer

Get serious. If it works for the Verwoerd Government it will work for the Israelis. They don't understand anything in the Knesset. Their vile treatment of the Palestinians is a travesty on the Zionist belief in a homeland for the Jewish People..... they perverted the original ideas of Herzl and all my Russian Jewish forbears. I have nothing but contempt for the current regime, and the Palestinians are long overdue for social justice. You want Peace? Try Justice. Divestment is a mere slap on the wrist compared to what I would think up to persuade them to act more human.

Bullshit, APN. The Occupation is a continuing practice of injustice and unmitigated evil, and it is the policy of the state of Israel. All its citizens are complicit in this evil. I make no distinction between Israel and the Occupation. To do so is ridiculous ratiocination, a distinction without a difference. No sane person believes your cries of "global Anti-Semitism" any more - no more than anyone capable of critical thinking believes in the so-called "global war on terror." Israel is not threatened with destruction, not by any stretch of the imagination. As a vassal of the Anglo-American imperium, it is the overwhelmingly dominant military power in the Middle East. Israel is a rogue state, and it should be sanctioned politically and economically by all available measures, until it is forced to reform. South Africa in decades past is a directly comparable model.

Excuse me? As a WASP member of J Street, I don't agree with you on this one. Its wonderfully marvelous that PCUSA is onto the fact that Israel is openly committing genocide with most of the world's blessing.

I joined APN believing it to be a fair minded organization which can make change happen from within ;
While I still believe this, your position here seems to ignore the obvious, that the policies of the Israeli government can not be decoupled from the occupation. I'm in complete agreement with the comments of Dan Fischer and James Weller. South Africa did not get the message until real, financial pressure was applied. Oppression is oppression, no matter how it might be rationalized away by the oppressor..

Sorry Peace Now. I'm a Jew who has supported Sholom Aschav for years, and will continue to do so. But you blew it on this one and need to give a sincere apology to the Presbyterians.

Caterpillar will survive, and you may not agree with this tactic, but the State of Israel must bear the responsibility for what happens within its borders. Those of us who know that Israel is destroying itself, and undermining its very reason for existence--the vote of the United Nations in 1948-- need to focus on that responsibility. The Presbyterians are on our side, and we need all the peaceniks we can get.

Like APN, I am no fan of the settlers or the settlements. But I support APN's position on the divestment resolution.

Those above who give such wholesale condemnations to Israel refuse to acknowledge any of the following points: 1) Under PM Ehud Barack, Israel offered Arafat almost all of the West Bank, all of Gaza and a good part of E. Jerusalem. Arafat rejected such an offer and encouraged violence. 2) Also under Barack, Israel withdrew unilaterally from south Lebanon, only to find that instead of peace it had Hizbollah firing rockets from closer to Israel. 3) Under PM Sharon Israel withdrew unilaterally from south Lebanon, only to find that instead of peace, it had Hamas firing rockets from closer to Israel.

These and similar incidents are why Israel now has a right wing government.

The above Arab responses to Israel's peace overtures ought to make those who actually care about peace and reconciliation think twice before they place all the blame for the continuing occupation on Israel.

I am puzzled and disappointed by APN's response. This sort of carefully targeted divestment from companies directly involved in facilitating the human rights abuses of the Occupation seems to be exactly the type of action we should be supporting, and very different from the calls for a blanket boycott of Israel that APN appears to have confused it with.

APN's 2011 statement on the settlements boycott, cited above, says: ""APN continues to oppose boycotts and other forms of BDS against Israel and the Israeli people as a whole, and urges people to continue buying Israeli products." The proposed divestment, which is aimed at US companies, does not infringe this principle.

Your condemnation of the PC(USA) proposal is therefore ill-judged, while the reference to "alleged" human rights abuses is mealy-mouthed. As for "blurring the Green Line", surely it is the settlements movement that does that!

Whether the PC proposal is tactically astute is another question.

I agree with the vast majority above. This is an outrageous and hypocritical position. Using the word 'anti-semitism' in your argument against the Church's proposed statement is abusive. The fact that, after all this time, you continue to distort the position of those who seek to act ethically and divest or boycott the settlements and their supporters is unacceptable.

I am deeply disappointed in APN's position on this issue.

I understand and accept and in fact support what APN and J Street are trying to do in terms of maintaining their status with respect to the institutions of the Jewish establishment.

But APN's statement is a lie. That is unjust.

[APN's president and CEO Debra DeLee said: "We believe that divestment campaigns such as this are misguided and counterproductive. They use a blunt instrument to pressure global corporations to curtail their business with Israel because of objectionable Israeli government policies in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip...By targeting Israel rather than the occupation..."]

That's a lie, and you know it. The resolution *did* target the *occupation* and *not Israel* and *you know it.*

Shame.

Having been on the APN snail mail list for years, I am not surprised by APN's opposition to efforts by the Presbyterian Assembly to move the markers of justice for the Palestinians forward.

The APN's decision makers, in the end, have shown themselves to be no different than their counterparts in the major organizations in the Jewish commnity whose goal has less to do with "peace" and nothing to do with "justice" but with providing "damage control" for Israel.

In other words, APN is part of the problem, not of the solution,

RE - "APN to Presbyterian Church (USA): Don't support Israel-related divestment"

MY COMMENT: So instead, Americans for Peace Now apparently favors 1980s-style, Reaganesque "constructive engagement" ! ! ! Good luck with that!

SEE: "Ilan Pappé: the boycott will work, an Israeli perspective" ~ Ceasefire Magazine, 6/16/12

[EXCERPTS] . . . After almost thirty years of activism and historical research, I became convinced that the balance of power in Palestine and Israel pre-empted any possibility for a transformation within Jewish Israelisociety in the foreseeable future. . .
. . . there is really no other alternative [to BDS]. Any other option—from indifference, through soft criticism, and up to full endorsement of Israeli policy—is a wilful decision to be an accomplice to crimes against humanity. The closing of the public mind in Israel, the persistent hold of the settlers over Israeli society, the inbuilt racism within the Jewish population, the dehumanization of the Palestinians, and the vested interests of the army and industry in keeping the occupied territories—all of these mean that we are in for a very long period of callous and oppressive occupation. . .

RE: "Divestment campaigns such as this therefore raise very real and understandable worries about global anti-Semitism." ~ APN press release

MY COMMENT: Wrong! It is Israel’s occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinians [not BDS] that raises “very real and understandable worries about global anti-Semitism.”
And APN is fiddling while the two-state solution burns and thereby acting as an "enabler" of Israel's continued occupation by rejecting just about the only non-violent way for the American people to at least put a modicum of pressure on the Israeli Government to end the occupation(because the U.S. Government is clearly unable and/or unwilling to).

I was appalled, even outraged, by your position on the Presbyterian BDS vote. It rehashes the time-worn dodge that has done so much harm to Palestinian justice: that any critique of Israel whatever is anti-Semitic. And you should be ashamed that your position must certainly have influenced the almost tie-vote. As a longtime APN member, I certainly am.

I hope APN leaders read the comments above which are almost unanimous in disappointment with and/or condemnation of with the stated APN position. I am also surprised and deeply disappointed. I have appreciated APN for years like many of other commenters but I think this position is not lacking in courage and logic---the writing is so clearly on the wall: you can't separate "the occupation" from the current Israeli government some leaders of which even refer to Peace Now as a 'terrorist organization". And by opposing this divestment vote they have lined up on the wrong side: that of AIPAC and those right wing evangelical Christians who seem to believe the government of Israel can do wrong and sympathy for Palestinian suffering equates with antisemitism. Wake up my friends, before its too late and you become totally irrelevant! Meanwhile my donations will go exclusively to Jewish Voice Peace which refuses to shrink from calling a spade a spade...

I agree with the above comments critical of APN. I would only add that Israel boycotts Gaza economically, militarly, socially and culturally. And yet, APN does not seem to see the irony.