Tension escalated between the Jewish Community and the
PC(USA) in early July when the General Assembly voted to "initiate the
process of selective, phased divestment" of stock in corporations within its
$8 billion portfolio who profit by supporting violence in Israel and
Palestine.
That process includes engagement of targeted companies in
dialogue, shareholder resolutions and public pressure to conform to more
socially responsible practices. If corporations comply, actual divestment is
not undertaken.
Caterpillar, Inc., has repeatedly been identified as a
potential target for PC(USA) divestment. The church has nearly $3 million
invested in the heavy equipment company whose bulldozers are being used by
the Israeli Defense Forces to build a controversial separation barrier and
to demolish Palestinian homes and orchards.
Other religious groups have pushed Caterpillar for years
to stop those sales.
Specifics of the PC(USA)'s strategy will not be determined
until a Nov. 6-8 meeting, again in New York, of the Committee on Mission
Responsibility through Investment (MRTI). At that meeting MRTI is expected
to establish its criteria, tactics and timeline for the divestment process.
Jewish leaders also protested the denomination's decision
not to ban funding of messianic congregations such as
the controversial Avodat Yisrael in
Philadelphia. Rather than decrying the proselytization of Jews the
Assembly opted to study how interfaith relations impacts Christian
evangelism.
But for most Jewish groups, divestment in Israel is the
foremost concern.
PC(USA) policy has consistently opposed the ongoing
expansion of settlements, house demolitions, the uprooting of orchards and
vineyards and, as of its July meeting, the Israeli government's construction
of the concrete and razor-wire barrier between the Palestinian and Israeli
populations.
Israel contends the barrier is necessary for security and
has dramatically reduced suicide bombings.
Palestinians argue that the wall, which in several places
encroaches far into Palestinian territory established after the 1967 war, is
part of a strategy for grabbing land that has not been negotiated by any
political settlement.
"The conversations here put us on the road toward a more
constructive pattern of dialogue," Kirkpatrick told the Presbyterian
News Service after the meeting. "While nobody's mind was changed, there
was important progress in dealing with each other with respect … while we
continue to disagree about divestment.
"The core issue for us is the desperate situation of the
Palestinian people. And if that's not addressed, we believe there will
be no security for either Israel or Palestine."
Yoffie told reporters that Jewish leaders see the
PC(USA)'s actions as unbalanced and that a "boycott" only ends up
undermining Israel's legitimacy. "Israel will not be more open. It
will be less conciliatory.
"There's a fundamental unfairness in that there are no
sanctions against Palestinian … terror or anything else. That fundamental
disparity has brought a visceral response from the Jewish community, " he
said.
Kirkpatrick reiterated the denomination's action as
targeted divestment -- not a blanket boycott or sanctions.
He said Presbyterians have a long tradition of using investments for social
change, mostly recently in Sudan. "We're seeking, first, change. Divestment
is a last resort."
He also said the PC(USA) would target corporate interests
that support Palestinian terror, if it is possible to do.
Kirkpatrick and Rick Ufford-Chase, the moderator of the
216th General Assembly, where the divestment decision was made,
told reporters they continue to back the Assembly's decision. But both
agreed that more consultation with the Jewish community is wise, and
probably should have occurred earlier in the Presbyterian process.
Ufford-Chase said that one of the underpinnings of
Presbyterian polity is that the Spirit of God moves among the Assembly as it
works and that the openness of the process allows church-goers to bring to
the Assembly what is "on their hearts and minds.'" (The divestment overture
originated in a church in St. Augustine Presbytery in Florida.)
"I certainly believe that God is at work in this moment,
in this process, at this time," he said.
Jewish leaders said they are concerned that the
Presbyterians' actions will prompt other churches to take similar action. A
delegation from the Angelical Communion's Peace and Justice Network
announced last week that it will recommend that the Anglican Consultative
Council (ACC) do so.
Yoffie said he doesn't believe divestment is an effective
strategy because the church doesn't have enough money invested to
significantly impact corporate policy. Nevertheless, he continued, Jewish
leaders are working in pre-emptive ways to stop any more divestment
decisions.
"This is not an incidental matter," he said, adding that
he hopes that Presbyterians reconsider this action down the road. "Its an
absolute top priority."
In a post-meeting interview, Kirkpatrick told the PNS
that he hopes divestment will be unnecessary. "But the way for it to not
happen is for the injustice to end."
Presbyterians' integrity is at stake, he said. "I don't
want the money that pays my pension and medical benefits to be invested in
companies that profit from bulldozers that demolish Palestinian homes or are
building parts of this wall."
Kirkpatrick said the Presbyterian delegation told Jewish
leaders that the Assembly did not intend to the Jewish community pain. "The
pain of our Jewish brothers and sisters is painful to us. That is not our
goal. Our goal is peace with justice."
The Rev. Jay Rock, the denomination's director of
interfaith relations, said the divestment action is reopening
Jewish-Christian dialogue both nationally and locally by putting the hardest
issues on the table. There had been, he said, "a kind of lull" in the
relationships.
Both sides said the national-level dialogues will
continue, but no specific dates have been set.
Besides Yoffie, the Jewish community was represented at
the meeting by Mark Pelavin, director of the Commission on Interreligious
Affairs of Reform Judaism; Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, director of
Interfaith Affairs of the Anti-Defamation League; Rabbi Jerry Epstein,
executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism;
Mark Waldman, director of Public Policy, United Synagogue of Conservative
Judaism; Rabbi Gilbert Rosenthal, executive director of the National Council
of Synagogues; Rabbi Paul Menitoff, executive vice president of the Central
Conference of American Rabbis; Judith Hertz, co-chair of the Commission on
Interreligous Affairs of Reform Judaism; Rabbi Joel Meyers, executive vice
president of the Rabbical Assembly; Rabbi David Elcott, U.S. director of the
Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee; and Ethan Felson,
assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
Presbyterians were Kirkpatrick, Ufford-Chase, Rock and the
Rev. Robina Winbush, associate stated clerk; Sara Lisherness, director of
the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program; Catherine Gordon of the Washington
Office staff; Bill Somplatsky-Jarman, MRTI staff; the Rev. Joe Small,
director of the PC(USA)'s Office for Theology and Worship; and the Rev.
Fahed Abu-Akel, former moderator of the PC(USA).
