Posted on 08/10/2004 1:30:41 PM PDT by xzins
Dershowitz On Presbyterian Anti-Israel Decision 18:19 Aug 10, '04 / 23 Av 5764
The Presbyterian Church (USA) resolved last month to condemn Israel's anti-terror partition/wall, to continue to fund the Avodat Yisrael church in Philadelphia that engages in missionary work towards Jews, and to divest from companies that do business with Israel. Excerpts from an article in the Los Angeles Times by Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz in response to the Presbyterian Church's anti-Israel decisions:
"The Presbyterian Church (USA) has committed a grievous sin. The General Assembly of that church has voted to divest from only one country in the world. No, it was not China, which has occupied Tibet for half a century and continues to deny basic human rights to its own citizens. No, it was not Iran, which threatens nuclear holocaust, executes dissenters and denies religious freedom to Christians and Jews. No, it was not North Korea, Libya, Russia, Sudan, Cuba or Belarus. It was - you guessed it - Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East and America's most reliable ally in a troubled part of the world.
"The way it will work is simple: A blacklist will be prepared for the church's leaders, showing companies that earn more than $1 million annually from investments in Israel or that invest more than $1 million a year in Israel. The Presbyterians plan to divest from any company on the list - with a handful of exemptions for companies that deal in education, social welfare programs and construction.
"How did the church come to such a ludicrous, wrongheaded position? Just look at the resolution itself, which bursts with bigotry and ignorance. It effectively blames the Israelis for Palestinian slaughter of civilians by asserting that the occupation is the "root" of terrorism. This canard ignores the reality that the Palestinian leadership opted for murder and violence as the tactic of choice well before there was any occupation, and that the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad have vowed to continue murdering Jews after the occupation ends, as long as the Jewish state exists.
"The Presbyterian resolution effectively calls for the end of Israel by insisting on "the right of [Palestinian] refugees to return to their homeland." This is a well-known euphemism for turning Israel from a Jewish state into another state with a Palestinian majority. (Jordan is the other.)
"The Presbyterian resolution also condemns Israel's military actions taken in defense of its civilians. It claims, without an iota of proof and against all the available evidence, that Israel commits "horrific acts of violence and deadly attacks on innocent people," when the truth is that Israel, like the United States, goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid killing innocent people. It equates Israel's targeting of terrorists with Palestinian targeting of civilians.
"...Divestment also encourages the continued use of terrorism by Palestinian leaders, who see that when Israel responds to their terrorism, it causes an important church to punish Israel. I do not believe that a majority of the 2.5 million Presbyterians in the U.S. want their church used to support terrorism. But they are now on notice that their church has been hijacked and its name misused in the service of an immoral tactic.
"...Unless the church rescinds this immoral, sinful and bigoted denigration of the Jewish state, it will be "participating in" and "contributing to" anti-Jewish bigotry and the encouragement of terrorism [in the words of a Presbyterian resolution of 1987]. ...Will grassroots Presbyterians overthrow and prune the rotten branches to prevent the rotting for the next generation under their influence, or will they passively allow the desecration of their faith by leftist radicals?"
In response to much criticism of the decisions, the Church released a statement of justification. Regarding the criticism of its claim that occupation is the "root" of terrorism, the Church said only that its position was not new: "In previous Assemblies, the church has called for an end to the occupation, as the principal cause of the conflict."
From what I know about AD, he's a very pro-Israel liberal Democrat. Oxymoron, but I guess it works for him.
The VAST majority of Jews in the US vote Democrat, whereas Bush is much more popular in Israel.
Unless he wants to say that Kerry would lift a finger to help Israel against the Muslim world?
Our Man From F.R.A.N.C.E.? Don't think so.
Isn't Dershowitz also an agnostic?
As for PCUSA being a dying denomination, I searched the Western Pennsylvania 152XX zipcodes at their website (pcusa.org) and found a long list of churches, including two of the wealthiest and most powerful churches in this area, Shadyside Presbyterian and Fox Chapel Presbyterian .
With so many true nations to boycot, where real genocide, discrimination, terror to boycott,it is not strange that The Presbyterian Church (USA) has aligned itself with the Islamo-fascist supporting, anti-Zionist, hate America left.
Those trying to shroud their anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Zionism fool no one.
David Horowitz on his http://www.frontpage.org has explored the Academic connection to this vile movement.
Bravo to Dershowitz for having the courage to take on The Presbyterian Church (USA).
Dershowitz published a book this year, "Why Terrorism Works," which is a strong endorsement of the WOT, and calls for a deeper understanding of the enemy on our part, and gives a legal justification for extremely strong tactics we may have to employ.
The Episcopal Church in America is probably ten times wealthier than the PCUSA and probably has a much longer list of church properties as well.
Yet it is even smaller in numbers than the PCUSA.
The PCUSA, like the Episcopals, have lost touch with the central tenets of their own founders and is probably less than half the size it was 25 years ago.
There is no point in being an English-speaking Presbyterian anyway if you do not assent to the Westminster Confession.
The PCUSA is dying and will need to merge with some other denominations or it will cease to exist.
SORRY FOR THE URL ERROR. Here is the correction:
David Horowitz on his http://www.frontpagemag.org has explored the Academic connection to this vile movement.
Bravo to Dershowitz for having the courage to take on The Presbyterian Church (USA).
With so many true nations to boycot, where real genocide, discrimination, terror to boycott,it is not strange that The Presbyterian Church (USA) has aligned itself with the Islamo-fascist supporting, anti-Zionist, hate America left.
Those trying to shroud their anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Zionism fool no one.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1187430/posts
Dershowitz' piece was posted previously with some good replies from different perspectives.
You may want to do some research on real numbers as your assertions are incorrect.
That's an interesting question; how do far lefties like Dershowitz feel about the fact that the most ardent supporters of Israel in the US are evangelical Christians, who oppose him on almost all other issues.
Though I will say one thing for Dershowitz: I once heard him talking about judicial activism and he seemed to be somewhat reasonable on it. I can't remember which, but he said that either the Second Amendment clearly protects an individual right to own guns, or that he felt that the Roe v Wade decision had been improperly decided and that abortion should have been left to the states to decide. He may have said both, I'm not sure, but I'm sure that he said one of the two, and that's rare for a liberal law professor.
This is going to be a most interesting election for Dersh watchers!
http://www.preteristarchive.com/Jesus_is_Israel/knox-theological_az_01.html
Questioning the tenets of Zionism does not equal alignment with anti-semites, leftists or fascists.
The link above is a statement promulgated by conservative, evangelical Christians, many of them PCA'ers, who caution against the error of Zionism.
As I stated on the duplicate (and previous) thread, I support the state of Israel. I support their war against terror and right to exist - they are a liberal democracy that we should support in spite of their failings.
That said, I won't offer the secular state of Israel my unqualified support and allegiance. It is not my country. And, there are Palestinian Christians - my sympathies are first with them in the Israel-Palestinian conflict as they are often caught between a rock and a hard place.
Folks are right, I think, to criticize us, the PCUSA, for failing to issue similar studies (nothing has been decided on the issue of divestment, only a study was approved) on divesting from Saudi Arabia or Sudan.
I'm willing to read any stats you care to provide.
Screw you Allan
Now that your left wing buddies come out to screw Israel you see the light
"It is their attitude that is bigoted."
No more (and no less) than any other boycott. It is that church's money, and let us hope they find better investment opportunities somewhere else.
The old adage is "the friend of enemy is my enemy."
There is nothing more anti-semitic than those in Palestine who wish to drive Israel into the ocean....the point, of course, being to kill them all (genocide.)
The friend of the anti-semite enemy is my enemy who MIGHT AS WELL BE an anti-semite.
Now, your first loyalty is not to Palestinian Christians above Israel. Your first loyalty is to the truth.
All truth is of God...I am the way, the truth, and the life...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.