..against Palestinians! Against #Gaza! July 2014
Episcopalians, United Methodists and Presbyterians are actually debating how they should deal with the Israeli Occupation
Martin Luther King, sitting in that Birmingham city jail, would most certainly inform these prelates that there is no debating evil. A brutal military occupation is not open to debate.
It is a disturbing spectacle. The collective ignorance displayed by many of the men and women—though, thank God, not all—who govern these denominations, boggles the mind.
The issue, my dear Christian friends, is justice, pure and simple. And yet, there they are, these robed religiosos, dripping with interfaith piety, proclaiming that the simple act of divestment of church funds is too harsh a tactic to use against Israel’s settlement obsessed, right-wing government.
What do they teach in seminary these days? Have those Old Testament professors who lead their Israeli-sanctioned “study groups” to the Holy Land removed the prophets from their syllabi?
Here is the Episcopal News Service report on the current presiding Episcopal bishop explaining why she, and the church that elevated her to denominational leadership, oppose the simple, non-violent tactic of targeting divestment of church funds from US corporations that profit from Israel’s military occupation:
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori urged Episcopalians to “invest in legitimate development in Palestine’s West Bank and in Gaza” rather than focusing on divestment or boycotts of Israel, during a March 25 “Middle East Peacemakers” luncheon in Los Angeles.
“The Episcopal Church does not endorse divestment or boycott,” the presiding bishop told more than 200 people gathered at the California Club in downtown Los Angeles. “It’s not going to be helpful to endorse divestment or boycotts of Israel. It will only end in punishing Palestinians economically.”
She also called for “a two-state solution with a dignified home for Palestinians and for Israelis” and for “deeper engagement, people of different traditions eating together, listening to each other’s stories,” she said, adding that the interreligious, multi-ethnic gathering hosted by Bishop J. Jon Bruno of the Diocese of Los Angeles was an example of what is possible.
Punishing Palestinians economically?
That statement is an incredible display of ignorance of the political realities of a brutal military occupation.
Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori wants investment in Palestine, not divestment from Israel’s occupation.
Who proposed that approach?
Sounds very much like the warden of the world’s largest outdoor prison inviting church members to come inside the prison and do their good works.
Cottage industries in cell block six?
Starting April 24, delegates to the United Methodist Church General Conference will debate the issue of using targeted divestment as a legislative tactic against injustice.
The United Methodist and the Presbyterian national churches have labored for many years to develop resolutions that focus tightly on US corporations that profit from the Occupation.
One of these corporations, Caterpillar, produces heavy equipment that Israel uses to build its apartheid wall, a wall that has nothing to do with security and everything to do with stealing even more Palestinian land.
Caterpillar also produces those monstrous bulldozers that tear down Palestinian homes, another “security” measure that is really designed to tighten the Occupation noose.
An Israeli soldier drove one of those American-built bulldozers over an American citizen, peace activist Rachel Corrie, on March 16, 2003, as she tried to stop an attack on a Palestinian home. In death, this young woman has become a symbol of non-violent courage to Palestinians.
Not so in the US, where neither action nor formal government protest was taken against the army that killed her.
And yet, here is an Episcopal bishop, standing before 200 of her fellow Episcopalians actually calling for Palestinians and Israelis to “eat together and listen to one another’s stories”.
This is blatant Israeli propaganda. These words were not uttered in the spirit of Amos; they sound more like an American politician scrambling for Israel Lobby money than they do of a Christian leader who must at some point in her career reflected upon, and perhaps even preached on, the call from Amos 5:4 to “let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream!” (NIV).
The saddest thing about this failure of a church leader to grasp the reality of injustice is that she offers palliative words that sound more like a Southern bishop of the 1950s begging the segregated and segregator to live together peacefully.
Bless you bishop, but there are people in Palestine on protest hunger strikes. Others are dying under the boot of a brutal occupying army. This is not a problem that will be addressed by our “eating together and talking to one another”.
For an example of the pepper spray at work, see the Ammar Awad Reuters photo above of Israeli soldiers spraying a Palestinian protestor. This took place on Land Day, when Palestinians remember their land losses.
Richard Silverstein, who writes the Tikun Olam web site, posted this photo from the New York Times and adds:
The Times headline for the slideshow presentation of Land Day images that includes this one was: Protesters Scuffle With Forces.
I don’t see protesters scuffling with Israeli forces. I see Israeli border police mauling unarmed Palestinian demonstrators. I see them pepper-spraying one at point-blank range.
That headline confirms once again that the New York Times is not just biased on this issue on behalf of Israel. It is simply an Israeli hometown paper. Its perspective is always that of the home team, that is, Israel.
Silverstein is Jewish, one of many Jews who knows the damage that the Occupation does to Israelis as well as to Palestinians. Fortunately, Silverstein is also a blogger with a large following.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori knows better than to speak of the Palestinian issue in the language she used. One of my sources who follows this issue with diligence, wrote to say:
It was she who, perhaps three years ago, visited Gaza, was duly appalled, and vowed to press with all of her and her church’s authority, to end the sadistic blockade and occupation of all of Palestine.
It mystifies me that she can ignore the precedent of, and successful use of BDS, in the closest parallel, South Africa. Schori has succumbed to expedience or the copout of “interfaith” wishy-washiness-cum-cowardice.
How can one have any hope for justice and a viable existence for the Palestinians in the face of such cavalier disregard for the well-known and often courageously expressed recitations of the “facts on the ground” created by the Zionist enterprise?.
Well stated, and true. Trips by church leaders, who finally see first -hand the ugliness of Occupation, are the best way to break through Israeli propaganda.
But, based on Bishop Schori’s public display of hasbara (propaganda) in Los Angeles, the power of the Israel Lobby trumps the truth.
All is not lost. Another source, who attended the bishop’s presentation, did not find the audience very receptive to her call for kum ba yah.
Two denominations will debate divestment resolutions over the next few months, first, the United Methodists and then, the Presbyterians.
The United Methodist supporters of targeted divestments are encouraged at the feedback they are hearing from the grassroots.
Blocking their way to the passage of a divestment resolution is the denomination’s General Board of Pensions, which objects to non-financial types interfering in their decisions to maximize pension profits.
This body has determined over the years that it will not invest in corporations that profit from, for example, South African apartheid, and that old reliable United Methodist staple, alcohol.
Faced with requests that it extend its no-no list to include three companies supporting the Occupation, the General Board of Pensions has adopted the Episcopal mantra of “eating together and sharing stories”.
Of course, the General Conference has the final say in this matter. Starting April 24, in their Tampa, Florida, meeting, the Methodists will have their chance to remember that its founding parent, John Wesley was not a “get along” guy; he was a justice guy.
This is the same denomination, by the way, that moved its 2012 meeting from Richmond, Virginia, to Tampa, Florida, because Richmond has a baseball team named, “The Braves”, a no-no among United Methodists who have agreed not to patronize locations with sports teams the Methodists believe denigrate Native Americans.
Good for them. Now let us see what can be done about the denigration of Palestinians.
James M. Wall is currently a Contributing Editor of The Christian Century magazine, based in Chicago, Illinois. From 1972 through 1999, he was editor and publisher of the Christian Century magazine. He has made more than 20 trips to that region as a journalist, during which he covered such events as Anwar Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem, and the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. He has interviewed, and written about, journalists, religious leaders, political leaders and private citizens in the region. Jim served for two years on active duty in the US Air Force, and three additional years in the USAF (inactive) reserve. Jim launched his new personal blog Wallwritings, on April 24, 2008.
The posts attacking Muslims and depicting the thugs (Israeli Settlers as victims) have quickly sprung up on WordPress by the hateful mob of NaZionists and their Muslim-hating supporters.
These Israeli settler thugs who are really subhuman, have committed atrocities against Palestinians daily and as the Israeli Terrorist Forces simply stood by! Even Israelis themselves hate settlers but will use them as a propaganda serving “piece” when it suits the NaZionist regime.
A key event in these was a Day of Rage declared by the Jewish settlers and its brutal oppression by the Israeli police (including severe sexual harassment of a 15 year-old girl by a Jewish police officer). The violence reached the Knesset, where the police was unable to defend its grave offenses: “uniformed criminals” was the general verdict on them.
The recent killing of a family is now Headlines: “The religion of peace: killing Jews in their sleep” or some ignorant self-serving propaganda.
Yet, when these thugs occupy Palestinian homes by force, commit murders and are authorized to terrorize and kill Palestinians, everyone is suddenly silent. They look away hoping for a “Muslim” Palestinian to commit a murder that they could use to bury and hide their own crimes.
Here’s a sample and simple list of these thugs crimes against Palestinians that – till this day, hardly surface unless one is persistent in one’s search for the truth.Some of the sources are Israeli sources too, which makes this more amazing: that the western media would not even refer to such crimes, because, after all, they’re Jewish crimes.. and stating that fact would be anti-Semitic!
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denounced the release of classified diplomatic cables as an “attack on the international community”.
Mrs. Clinton also stated:
“This disclosure is not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests,” she said. It is an attack on the international community: the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity.”
This is quite bizarre. Global security through murders and killings? Exposing American forces savagery in Iraq is now a threat and/or attack on the international community? Insulting world leaders while schmoozing up to these world dictators, is justified as “partnership? Let me get this straight: Saddam was accused of hiding WMD, invaded a sovereign country next door and was immediately dealt with, toppled, executed and the country is in complete chaos. We “brought Iraq democracy.” Or so we’d like to claim while millions of innocent people including children have been executed by our forces!
Yet, Israel, a terrorist nation of Apartheid and NaZionism continues with its crimes against humanity – and we quickly reward this nation of terrorists and Nazis with more advanced planes and weapons.
But why are these leaked “secrets” considered a threat to our National Security? Let’s look at some:
As to diplomats’ portrayals of world leaders, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is said to have been described as feckless, vain and ineffective and sharing a close relationship with the “alpha dog”, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France is said to be thin-skinned and authoritarian, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel is described as risk-averse.
Corruption in Afghanistan with concerns heightened when a senior official was found to be carrying more than $52m (£33m) in cash on a foreign trip
Meanwhile, Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi always travels with a “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse, according to one of the cables.
This is such sensitive information! After all, the voluptuous Ukrainian nurse is really another form of WMD! And the $52 million in cash? Secret? I say this is just the type of story I expect to hear on the 7 o’clock news!
Wikileaks has posted only some of the 200 of the 251,287 messages it says it has obtained. However, the entire bundle of cables has been made available to five publications, including the New York Times and the UK’s Guardian newspaper. Will more “secrets” be revealed to the cattle (human race) of the world? If it “serves our foreign policy and national interests,” you bet… and other trash is revealed or leaked to us so that we would think there’s really nothing of value in these leaked secrets!
For example, Wikileaks argues the release of the documents has shed light on the wars, including allegations of torture and reports that suggest 15,000 additional civilian deaths happened in Iraq. We also know that… but the sad truth is that Banning, the one accused of such leaks, is imprisoned… as the news reported this morning (Tuesday November 30, 2010) for releasing a video of American forces in a helicopter, executing Iraqi civilians indiscriminately. I remember the story well: when it was first reported, we were told that these people were insurgents… then the truth came out briefly and the story quickly buried and disappeared!
But if another country committed such atrocities, we would be invading them to restore “justice.”
And if an “ally” committed the same atrocities, we praise them for their self-control in not killing more civilians!
This is exactly why Private First Class Bradley Manning is in jail!
JERUSALEM — Israeli police officers evicted a Palestinian family from their home in a predominantly Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, and a group of Jewish settlers [thugs] moved into the property at night.
The episode struck one of the more sensitive nerves in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship at a time of increasing tension and as the Obama administration is working to restart stalled peace negotiations. Such evictions have drawn international condemnation in the past.
but nothing is ever done about that!
The Palestinian family, the Karains, lost a legal battle for ownership of the house. They said it had been sold to settlers illegally and without their knowledge by a relative, Ali Karain, who was a part-owner of the house, and who has since died.
The Israeli courts upheld the sale about six months ago.
Note that Israeli courts always rule in favor of replacing Palestinian families.. this is how they “legally” ethnic cleanse!
After the eviction, family members milled about in the street and on a neighboring rooftop, while Israelis protected by armed police officers went about installing security cameras and sealing the windows and balconies of the building with boards and wire mesh.
“My uncle died almost two years ago,” said Fadi Karain, 21, who is studying to be a teacher at an Israeli college in predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem. “A month after he died, we heard from the bailiffs that the house had been sold.” He said that the new owners were associated with Elad, a group that promotes Jewish settlement in Arab areas of Jerusalem, and particularly in Silwan.
The settler takeover of the Karain house will represent a new point of Jewish settlement in this contested city. The three-story stone building is wedged among other houses on a steep slope in the Farouk section of the Jebel Mukaber neighborhood, with a panoramic view of the Old City, the Aksa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. Those shrines sit atop the plateau revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, and by Jews as the Temple Mount.
A stone slab set into the wall of the house is engraved with an image of the Dome of the Rock and the words “Al mulk lillah,” Arabic for “Everything belongs to God.”
A Jewish volunteer who was helping to prepare the house for its new inhabitants said he was acting out of “Zionism.” Israelis have the right to live and buy property anywhere in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, he said.
Zionism, terrorism, Nazism, barbarism.. all the same!
The issue of Israeli construction in Jewish sections of East Jerusalem has been a source of tension in recent months between Israel, the Palestinians and the United States. Jewish settlers are increasingly moving into predominantly Arab neighborhoods, deepening confusion about the future shape of the city.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem shortly after capturing it and the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war. The annexation was never internationally recognized, and the Palestinians claim the territory as the capital of a future independent state. But many Israelis maintain that Jerusalem belongs entirely to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently had a sharp exchange with the Obama administration in which his office released a statement defending Jewish construction in Jerusalem, saying, “Jerusalem is not a settlement; Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel.” (Never was and Never will be)
In recent years, settlers have evicted Palestinians and taken over several houses in Sheikh Jarrah, a coveted area near the Old City, after the Israeli courts, including the Supreme Court, upheld rulings from the 1970s that the properties had originally belonged to Jews.
Activists of the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity group were in Jebel Mukaber on Tuesday, helping the Karain family remove boxes of food and some last belongings from the house.
The group issued a statement saying that the objective of the new settlement was “without doubt to undercut the rationale of the 2000 Clinton Proposal, namely the division of Jerusalem into two capitals,” referring to an idea put forward by President Bill Clinton.
On the upper edge of Jebel Mukaber, dozens of Jewish families now live in a private Jewish development, Nof Zion, built on land that was purchased by an Israeli developer.
Udi Ragones, a spokesman for Elad, said the Karain home was purchased a few years ago by a foreign-registered company called Lowell.
Mr. Ragones did not acknowledge any direct Elad role in buying the property, but he said that there had been contacts between the group and the purchasers.
But groups like Elad, also known as the City of David, are known to use foreign-registered straw companies to buy properties in East Jerusalem. They say that they have to work discreetly in order to protect the Palestinian sellers whose lives are threatened by other Palestinians who oppose such deals.