The leadership of the American “United Church of Christ” (UCC) recently adopted a resolution at its General Synod denouncing Israel calling it an apartheid state and accusing it of using “imperialistic theology” as justification of its suppressive policies towards the Palestinians.
“We reject Israel’s apartheid system of laws and legal procedures” the Church of Christ stated in a resolution approved by 83 percent of members during the meeting.
Mondoweiss website which provides news and opinion about Palestine described the UCC as “the first major US denomination to call Israel an apartheid state” expressing its belief that the UCC resolution is likely to be only the first blow among many from other mainline denominations including the Presbyterians Methodists Lutherans Episcopalians Unitarians Quakers and others who will follow the UCC lead in denouncing Israel’s “continued oppression of the Palestinian people” and call on the US government to support full equal rights for Palestinians.
According to Mondoweiss the UCC slammed all of the injuries done to the Palestinians over the decades with the unstinting support of Washington and affirmed its support for “the right of return to Palestine — or to compensation for property losses — of the 5.6 million Palestinian refugees registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) invoking UN Resolution 194 (1948).
The UCC rejected recent efforts to drastically narrow the refugee definition and demanded full US funding for UNRWA.
The UCC also announced multiple relevant positions calling on the US administration and its institutions to protect the constitutional right of Americans to protest Israel’s actions through BDS.
In this regard it expressed its rejection of “the idea that any criticism of policies of the State of Israel is inherently anti-Semitic” and its opposition of any federal or state legislation to limit free speech on campuses or to constrain or punish BDS.
Furthermore it called upon the US administration and its institutions to halt US military aid to Israel until Palestinian rights are “fully realized and protected” and highlighted its rejection of any theology or ideology particularly Christian Zionism that “would privilege or exclude any nation race culture or religion.”
The Church condemned “Jewish-only settlements throughout the West Bank” the 2018 Nation-State basic law and the “provocative actions under the Trump administration including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem” and supporting Israel’s proposed illegal annexation of West Bank territory.
