American Jewish Committee expresses regret over Presbyterian Church’s pro-BDS stance
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) regrets that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), at its biennial General Assembly (GA), reaffirmed its support for BDS by adopting a measure opposing anti-BDS legislation.
“The Church remains obsessively critical of Israel in its national utterances,” said Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations. “For many years and in myriad ways, the PCUSA has gone beyond legitimate criticism of Israel and embraced demonization of the Jewish state.”
The PCUSA GA, meeting in St. Louis, approved an overture whose rationale includes a call to condemn the Balfour Declaration as unjust and accuses Israel of practicing apartheid; rejected the evenhandedness of an overture calling for the protection of both Israeli and Palestinian children; and disapproved an overture calling for an end to the description of Israel as a “colonial project” in Church publications. All but two of the 13 overtures and resolutions about the Middle East region focused on Israel.
On the other hand, Marans continued, “There was a glimmer of hope for future Presbyterian-Jewish relations at this GA that could represent a tentative first step toward the Church heading in a better direction.” A particularly egregious overture that misleadingly described American Jewish leaders’ attitudes and called for curtailing dialogue with Israel supporters was replaced with one that called for open and truthful interfaith dialogue.
AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization and a pioneer in interreligious relations, remains grateful for its Presbyterian friends who have labored hard to change the course and tone of anti-Israel deliberations and have mitigated anti-Israel resolutions and overtures at successive PCUSA GAs. “These friends are far more representative of the current state of Presbyterian-Jewish relations than the biennial demonization of Israel at GAs,” said Marans. —From American Jewish Committee
King Abdullah II meets with Defense Secretary Mattis
On the heels of a meeting between King Abdullah II of Jordan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Jordanian monarch met with Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis. Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana W. White provided the following readout:
Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis met with His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Friday at the Jordanian ambassador’s residence in Washington D.C. to reaffirm the strong bilateral security partnership between the United States and Jordan.
The leaders discussed a broad range of regional issues, and the Secretary thanked King Abdullah’s leadership and commitment to regional security and stability. The Secretary also expressed his appreciation for the Jordanian Armed Forces role in the defeat ISIS campaign.
Secretary Mattis thanked King Abdullah for his unwavering support to a strong bilateral security partnership.
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U.N. Secretary General Guterres meets with Secretary of State Pompeo
U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Secretary Pompeo met on Saturday with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in Washington, DC.
“The Secretary and the Secretary-General discussed the success of the Singapore Summit, efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, Libya, peace in the Middle East, and the Secretary-General’s recent trip to Mali,” she said. “The two agreed on the need to prioritize humanitarian aid in Yemen and Syria.”
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Preceding culled from news releases sent to editor@sdjewishworld.com