To: ZOA Executive Directors
ZOA Regional Leaders
Friends of Israel Around the U.S.
From: Morton A. Klein, National President
Zionist Organization of America
At its 216th General Assembly, held June 26-July 3, 2004, the Presbyterian Church USA called for the divestment of holdings by multinational corporations doing business with Israel; compared Israel to the apartheid regime in South Africa for building a security fence to defend itself against suicide bombers; endorsed the right of Arab “refugees” to settle in Israel; and decided to fund missionary activities aimed at converting American Jews to Christianity.
To express your opinion, contact:
John Detterick, Executive Director
Presbyterian Church USA
100 Witherspoon Street
Louisville, KY 40202-1396
Telephone:
Fax: (502) 569-5018
e-mail address: jdettrick@ctr.pcusa.org
Some Points You May Want to Make:
Divestment is economic warfare against Israel.
The Presbyterians’ call for divestment from Israel could have serious consequences. If significant numbers of multinational corporations stop doing business with Israel, it will have a severe impact on the lives of the Israeli public. Divestment is an attempt to embitter the lives of ordinary Israelis.
Israel has a right to defend itself.
Security fences, checkpoints, and other self-defense measures are part of Israel’s basic right and obligation, as a sovereign state to protect the lives of its citizens. Instead of condemning Israel for defending itself, the Presbyterian Church USA should be condemning the Palestinian Authority for its terrorist war against Israel. If there was no terrorism, there would be no need for security measures.
The Arabs, not Israel, are promoters of apartheid.
It is the Arab demand to expel all Jews from Judea-Samaria-Gaza which most closely resembles apartheid. It is the Arabs who refuse to coexist peacefully with their Jewish neighbors simply because they are Jews. That is racism; that is apartheid.
The Presbyterians should respect Jews, not try to convert them.
The Presbyterian decision to fund a “messianic congregation” that targets Jews for conversion is wrong. Mutual respect and tolerance, which are at the core of America’s values as a multiethnic society, demand that the Presbyterians accept Jews as they are, not try to convert them to Christianity.
“Return” of “refugees” would destroy Israel.
The Presbyterians’ resolution on Israel asserted that “a just and equitable solution to the conflict that respects … the rights of refugees to return to their homeland”. That means, in practice, that millions of Arabs from around the world would be allowed to settle in Israel — giving Israel an Arab majority and destroying it as a Jewish State.