PCUSA Delegates Condemned for Recent Anti-Israel Acts
by Jim Brown
October 28, 2004
(AgapePress) - A longtime member of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is sharply criticizing a delegation of the denomination for meeting in Lebanon with leaders of the terrorist group Hezbollah, and for other moves the church has been making that could be construed as anti-Israel actions.This past summer the PCUSA voted overwhelmingly to divest from companies that do business with Israel. The 24-member delegation also met in Syria not long ago, and there it called on Israel to end its so-called "occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Dave Kuner is a spokesman for the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. He calls the delegation's meeting with Hezbollah a "colossal blunder" and says, "The timing of this was just absolutely abysmal, coming so soon after the decision at the General Assembly to consider divestment -- and at a time when Jewish-Presbyterian relations are really, genuinely in peril."
Kuner also takes issue with the delegation's condemnation of Israel's actions in its own defense against Palestine. "The idea that Presbyterians have some sort of right to dictate to the Jewish State what they can do for their security or the right way to resolve this conflict that has been going on for so long is just wrongheaded in so many ways I can barely begin," he says. "I think, theologically, it's disastrous."
The IFCJ spokesman says he is glad many Evangelicals are standing up for Israel, because mainline Protestant churches seem to be doing just the opposite. A member of the PCUSA delegation was quoted by a member of Hezbollah as saying it is "a lot easier" dealing with Muslim leaders than with Jewish leaders.
