(RNS) A prominent Jewish human rights organization has called on leaders of the United Church of Canada (UCC) to denounce resolutions it considers “anti-Israel” that will be considered at the denomination’s upcoming meeting.
Four proposals submitted to the General Council — to be held Aug. 9-15 in British Columbia — concern ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. Two recommend a boycott of Israeli institutions, comparing it to past divestment efforts against apartheid in South Africa.
Another proposal refers to Israel being built “mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center sent a letter to leaders of the UCC, expressing their concern about the “moral evils” in the proposals.
“They are better suited to propagandists of Hitler’s Germany in the `30’s than the largest Protestant Church group in Canada,” the letter says.
UCC leaders, who also have received complaints about the resolutions from the Canadian Jewish Congress, have responded by saying the statements are only proposals.
“Proposals to General Council are offered for consideration and can be adopted, amended, or defeated,” reads a July 29 statement from the church. It noted that the UCC has affirmed that Middle East peace should be gained by Israel recognizing a Palestinian state and dismantling its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
“The formal policy of the United Church is strongly in support of the existence of the Jewish state of Israel,” wrote the Rev. David Giuliano, moderator of the UCC, in an op-ed column in The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, in response to the concerns.
“At the same time, the United Church’s General Councils have sought to remind Canadians of the existence of Palestinian people, their struggles and despair and their desire for a safe and secure homeland.”