Jewish groups have praised the Presbyterian Church for its decision not to “over-identify” with either party in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Spearheaded by the umbrella organization the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Jewish groups issued a statement Friday in support of some of the stands taken last week by delegates to the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church.
In addition to the motion prohibiting the church from adopting positions that would identify too much with one party to the conflict, the committee also approved a motion endorsing the Amman Call, a document adopted at a 2007 church gathering in Jordan that calls for the right of return of all refugees.
The committee also struck down language that would have permitted the church to move ahead with divestment from Israel without further approval from the General Assembly.
The Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, Simon Wiesenthal Center, B’nai B’rith International, Anti-Defamation League, and the Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements, expressed concern about the Church’s support for the right of return
They also called on the church “to recognize the need to exert pressure on companies operating in Iran and Syria, state sponsors of terror.”
