As this paper is reporting, the US Presbyterian Church has rejected, narrowly, Israel divestment
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) rejects by a slim margin of 333-331 a motion to divest from companies it says provide Israel services that aid occupation of West Bank.
I caught this on the issue of divesting - :
...pro-Palestinian activists consider the withdrawal of funds an act of social witness. The Rev. Walt Davis, of the Israel Palestine Mission Network, a pro-Palestinian Presbyterian group, argued the denomination would have divested years ago from the companies under church’s socially responsible investment guidelines “were it not for the Israel lobby.”
I really wonder how active this "social witnessing" is from persons and groups engaged in anti-Israel policy operations when in comes to the rest of the Middle East.
Like in Syria.
But, being that as it may, it is good to know from where the theological basis for this Christian social witnessing originates. It is this New Testament verse Acts 1:8
“You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
That''s correct, Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
The territory of the Jewish national home. Where Jesus, a Jew, who "was born in Bethlehem in Judea" walked and where his disciples walked such as John the Baptist who "came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea" as mentioned throughout the New Testament, like here in Acts 8:1-6:
the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria...
And even farther afield (Matthew 4:25):
Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan
So why are all these Christians seeking to dislodge Jews from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria?
Why can''t they be true to their values?
Or at least our Jewish values?
It would be such a mitzvah.
^