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Protestant Church's hypocrisy exposed |
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Protestant Church's hypocrisy exposed Caption:
An Israel Defense Forces bulldozer manufactured by Caterpillar, one of
the companies the Protestant Church has pointed to in efforts to boycott
Israel. Credit: MathKnight.
By Roz Rothstein
JNS News Service
October 10, 2012
It
is appalling that Protestant leaders sent a letter to Congress asking
it to investigate whether Israel’s use of American military aid has
violated U.S. or international law. This letter marks a disturbing
escalation in the efforts of Protestant anti-Israel activists.
For
several years, factions within some denominations have tried,
unsuccessfully, to get their churches to divest from companies that do
business with Israel. Now they are going outside their churches but
using their church affiliations to ask for Congressional support of
their anti-Israel agenda.
These 15 Protestant leaders who signed
the letter use the same irresponsible accusations and distortions of
reality heard from extremists on campuses and from groups like Sabeel,
the Palestinian Christian organization known for its anti-Semitic views.
Despite its lip service to Israel’s very real security needs, the
letter condemns all of Israel’s self-defense policies, even its use of
tear gas to control violent crowds.
The letter blames Israel
alone for the lack of peace and paints Palestinians as blameless. It
never even refers to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that governs
Gaza, whose founding documents call for the murder of Jews and the
“obliteration” of Israel, and who has fired over 10,000 rockets and
mortars at Israel’s civilian communities since 2005.
The letter
never condemns Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for
refusing to return to negotiations despite Israel’s repeated entreaties,
and it never mentions Israel’s repeated efforts to make peace. It
certainly never questions whether the U.S. should continue to give
Palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars a year despite their
refusal to promote peace. This is blatantly hypocritical.
The
letter attempts to undermine Congressional support for Israel by
spreading false information. Yet, U.S. aid to Israel has been one of
America’s best investments. Israel is a steadfast friend and ally, and a
democracy that shares America’s values. The two countries have
benefited from joint research and development in science and technology,
and U.S.-Israeli cooperation has created up to 200,000 jobs in the US
while Israeli companies invested more than $57 billion in the U.S.
between 2000 and 2010. The letter’s recommendation would harm both the
U.S. and Israel.
These Protestant leaders are effectively trying
to undermine peace efforts, not foster them. If they really wanted to
promote peace, they would call for President Abbas to return to the
negotiating table. They would work with pro-Israel Jewish groups in
America instead of ignoring them and making a travesty of interfaith
relations. If they really wanted to promote peace in the region, they
would focus on Syria where over 30,000 people have been slaughtered and
on the escalating prejudice and persecution of Christians in the wake of
the Arab spring.
Unfortunately, their obsessive prejudice
against Israel has revealed that they are not honest brokers for peace,
and raises worrisome concerns about their moral compass. They seem to be
flirting with the “new anti-Semitism” in which Israel replaces “Jew” in
traditional anti-Semitic accusations. We hope that the people in the
pews will hold these misguided leaders accountable and restore the
Protestant churches’ ability to assert moral leadership.
Roz Rothstein is CEO of StandWithUs, an 11-year-old Israel education organization.
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| Filed under Israel, Politics, Knesset, Zionism, Anti-Semitism, Muslims in Israel, Palestinian Authority, Arab - Israeli Relations, Religion, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hamas, Anti-Semitism, Technology, Medicine, Palestinian, Gaza, Syria, Sderot, Unites States on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 by Author: Admin. |
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