Church Statements

President and CEO, Kenneth Grant

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THE USA

August 04

The Presbyterian Center in Louisville continued to be inundated with letters this week protesting the 216th General Assembly's decision July 2 to initiate a process of selective, phased divestment from multinational corporations doing business in Israel.

Jewish leaders and groups continued to criticize the Presbyterian Church (USA) for taking actions it says are anti-Israel and anti-Semitic and which ignore the violence perpetrated by Palestinians in the region. Interfaith relations officer Jay Rock of the Worldwide Ministries Division spent much of the week in New York, conferring with various Jewish groups.

Victor Makari, area coordinator for the Middle East, also spent much of the week explaining the PC(USA)'s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the actions taken by the General Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Rev. Bill Somplatsky-Jarman, coordinator for Mission Responsibility Through Investment, began the painstaking work of researching PC(USA) policy on the Middle East and various corporate ties between multinational corporations and the Israeli government in order to prepare the specific divestment strategy called for by the Assembly. He said the divestment process, which usually involves dialogue with offending companies before any stock-selling occurs, will probably initially focus on Caterpillar, the machinery giant that sells bulldozers to the Israeli Defense Forces. That process will be developed at a meeting of MRTI in New York in early November.