A top Methodist body heard arguments for and against divesting from Israel. The United Methodist General Board of Church and Society heard from four speakers Friday discussing whether to present a divestment from Israel plan at the church’s general conference in April, according to the New York Sun. The Rev. Douglas Mills, an executive on the church’s General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, made the case against divestment, the Sun reported, partly from concerns that a church-wide decision to divest would damage relations with Jewish groups.
Among those making the case for divestment was Susanne Hoder, a member of the New England Conference’s Divestment Task Force. Two of the 11-million member church’s regional groupings, in New England and Virginia, have recommended divestment from companies that allegedly are complicit in Israel’s West Bank occupation. The weekend meeting, in Fort Worth, Texas, also considered divestment from other nations, including Sudan.
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