A letter from Rabbi Eugene Korn
I have spent the decades of my career toiling in the vineyards of interfaith relations and Jewish-Christian understanding. It is holy work.
I urge you to reject INT-02 labeling Israel as an apartheid state. It is an appalling document, riddled with untruths, half-truths, legal distortions and deep bias. It will be seen by all seriously working for peace as an ideologically driven, one-sided resolution constituting false witness. As such it will undermine any remaining credibility PCUSA has regarding the tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The resolution repeatedly refers to Israeli policy in racial terms. This is a profound distortion, as any person knowledgeable about the conflict knows. The conflict is not about race, but about two national movements that contradict each other. Portraying it in racial terms is a cheap shot apparently intended to gain supporters through deception.
INT-02 also advocates a Palestinian “right of return.” People aware of the conflict’s history know that this is code for the destruction of the Jewish state – Israel even before its 1967 occupation of the West Bank areas. This is blatantly inconsistent with PCUSA’s alleged support of the right of Israel to exist. Denying the Jewish people its natural right of national self-determination is an egregious double standard, since PCUSA freely grants this right to all other peoples. Such unjustifiable discrimination can be rightly seen as anti-Semitism.
The resolution systematically ignores all Palestinian responsibility for the conflict and the current tragedy. It elides persistent Palestinian terrorism and Israel’s legitimate right to defend its citizens, which is such a large part of the conflict. (Just recently Palestinian terrorists murdered 13 innocent Israeli civilians.) Not holding Palestinians morally responsible for their behavior smacks of bigotry. It judges Palestinians incapable of moral agency and living according to moral standards. This resolution dispels any notion that PCUSA is an honest or faith observer of the conflict.
INT-02 is also destructive, serving to increase hatred toward Israel, Israelis and Jews, while not furthering peace, understanding, or alleviating Palestinian suffering in any way. All the toxic PCUSA Israel-Palestine resolutions over the years about the conflict have not helped one Palestinian for one moment of one day. INT-02 is similar and without a constructive process. Because of this is, unfortunately, morally and spiritually vacuous.
Rather than demonizing Israel as an apartheid state, PCUSA should take constructive steps such as (1) investing in the Palestinian economy and ensuring that the donations are used for the welfare of Palestinian citizens, rather than disappearing to corruption and terrorism, (2) helping Palestinians build strong and transparent democratic institutions, (3) strengthening moderate Palestinians voices willing to engage constructively with Israelis, (4) convincing Palestinian leaders to prepare Palestinians for realistic compromises needed for peace, and (5) urging Palestinian leaders to drop their policy of rejecting peace offers as they did repeatedly in 1948, 1967, 1977, 2000, 2008 and 2020.
Finally, it is revealing that the resolution vilifies Israel while ignoring the suffering of millions of Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, most of whom are denied citizenship, forced to live in refugee camps and suffer from a systematic state of discrimination. Many people will conclude that INT-02 is not really about concern for the Palestinians. It is all about the Jews.
In sum, INT-02 sins in bearing false witness and displays none of the Christian virtues of love, charity, or fairness.
The PCUSA, Palestinians, and Israelis deserve better.
With fervent prayers for peace and understanding,
Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn
Former Academic Director, Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Israel
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Contact:
Todd Stavrakos
Presbyterians for Middle East Peace
267-251-0459
[email protected]
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