The Presbyterian assault on Israel

The overtures targeting the Jewish state are only the symptom of a cancer metastasizing inside the church.

By ROBERT HORENSTEIN
The Israel Palestine Mission Network’s ‘Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide’ (photo credit: Courtesy)
The Israel Palestine Mission Network’s ‘Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide’
(photo credit: Courtesy)
THE ASSAULT on Israel’s legitimacy comes from many directions and on a variety of fronts, especially in the form of economic and academic boycotts. The latest attack, on the theological front, is perhaps the most insidious demonization campaign the pro-Israel community in the US has ever faced.
In January, the Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN), an advisory group to the 1.9 million-member US Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), released “Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide,” a 74-page booklet that the mainline Protestant denomination describes as “an ideal resource” for clergy and laity interested in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. In fact, the study guide, which appeared in advance of the PCUSA’s biennial General Assembly this June in Detroit, is ideal for those seeking to delegitimize Israel.
Declaring Zionism to be a source of “evil” on par with Nazism and “a heretical doctrine that fosters both political and theological injustice,” the publication has sparked outrage among American Jewish organizations. The Anti-Defamation League, for example, said the booklet amounts to a “promulgation of hatred and misinformation.” The Jewish Council for Public Affairs called it “an affront to Jews, Israel, and peacemaking.” Both groups are exhorting the church’s leadership to unequivocally renounce the document.
But isn’t it already too late for that? After all, this is hardly the first time the pro-Israel community has been down this agonizing road with the PCUSA, whose so-called peace agenda has been hijacked by a group of radical Israel-bashing activists. Every two years over the past decade, the Israel haters submit overtures to the PCUSA General Assembly calling on the church to declare Israel an apartheid state or to sell its stock in companies doing business there. A 2012 divestment overture was defeated by the narrowest of margins.
As bad as it has been, this time, arguably, it’s much worse. “Zionism Unsettled” may be the handiwork of fringe extremists, but the church is acting as a willing accomplice. There isn’t the slightest effort by the PCUSA to dissociate itself from the IPMN or rein in the group’s extremism. To the contrary, the IPMN is chartered by the PCUSA, advised by members of the denomination’s national staff, and charged with “educating” the church about the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.
On its website, the IPMN proclaims that the study guide was released to “immediate critical acclaim.” The publication’s defenders (their praise posted on the site) include Neve Gordon, an anti-Zionist Israeli scholar, Chas Freeman, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and longtime Israel critic, Ali Abunimah, founder of the Electronic Intifada, and Walter Brueggemann, professor emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, who calls Zionism an “imperious and exploitative ideology.”
The study guide is so full of anti-Semitic content that it received glowing reviews from both David Duke, a leader of the White Supremacist movement, and Iran’s government- controlled TV. And far from repudiating the booklet, the PCUSA is selling it through its online bookstore.
In the next few months, the pro-Israel community will be working feverishly behind the scenes to press our Presbyterian allies to block passage of any anti-Israel overtures that may be up for debate at the June gathering. But there’s no guarantee of success. As one observer of mainline Christian groups noted, “The pro-Israel folks inside the denomination are caught flat-footed, again, by the [study guide]… and the anti-Zionists come to every General Assembly ready to play.”
Besides, the overtures targeting the Jewish state are only the symptom of a cancer metastasizing inside the church. Perhaps it’s time for pro-Israel advocates to realize that this is no longer a battle we can go on fighting endlessly. If the PCUSA won’t confront the IPMN’s extremism, then the organized Jewish community should break off relations with the church body and deal exclusively with groups such as Presbyterians for Middle East Peace that genuinely believe in interfaith understanding and recognize the legitimacy of Jewish (as well as Palestinian) national self-determination.
The Jewish community’s relationship with the PCUSA may be at stake, but the larger issue is the church itself and its credibility as a seeker of justice. Jewish groups have neither the clout nor leverage to get the church to purge itself of its Israel haters. Change, if it’s to occur, must come from within.
Ultimately, the church will have to choose: Does it stand for peace and reconciliation, or does it stand behind the kind of outrageous screed that would make an anti-Semite proud?
Robert Horenstein is Community Relations Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Oregon.