|
| |
|
Divestment: Jewish critiques |
Jewish groups cooperating to head off divestment
[6-9-06]Here’s a report from The Jewish Week
("Serving the Jewish Community of Greater New York") giving their view on
the current Presbyterian debate as it comes to the General Assembly.
The article quotes Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor,
inter-religious director for the Anti-Defamation League, as saying that the
real issue should not be divestment, but "how to deal with the structural
anti-Semitism that still exists in segments of the church that allows for
divestment and for this de-legitimization of Israel." We’re not sure what
that means, but it seems to be a pretty serious charge. |
|
Another supporter of Israel directly criticizes Finkelstein
[6-9-06] Doug,
I was frankly surprised to find a letter from Norman
Finkelstein featured with approval on the Witherspoon Society page.
Finkelstein is a sort of crackpot intellectual, the fact
that some of his ideas are congenial is no excuse for mistaking describing
him as a responsible scholar.
Your headline , "Jewish professor of political science
writes in support of divestment," further misleads in giving the
impression that Finkelstein's opinions are in any sense representative of
the Jewish community. Support for divestment among Jews is extremely low.
Among Jews with an affiliation beyond the mere accident of ancestry, support
for divestment drops to nearly zero.
Your description of Finkelstein as "work(ing) for lasting
peace between the two nations," is extremely odd. To say that someone has
"worked for... peace" applies some positive activity. Finkelstein is a
critic, not a worker. And he is not an evenhanded critic of "the two
nations." He is an angry, intemperate, vicious critic of Israel alone.
Finkelstein is a well known Holocaust minimizer and
anti-Israel propagandist whose writing is popular in neo-Nazi circles. For
those of your members who are not familiar, here are a few, random
Finkelstein quotes:
'I can't imagine why Israel's apologists would be offended
by a comparison to the Gestapo.'
"All opinion-leaders, from the left to the right, are
Jews…"
Finkelstein has made intemperate allegations that
Holocaust survivors are bogus, "I'm not exaggerating when I say that
one out of three Jews you stop in the street in New York will claim to be a
survivor."
"Elie Wiesel [is] resident clown of the Holocaust circus."
According to the highly regarded University of Chicago
historian, Peter Novick,
"No facts alleged by Finkelstein
should be assumed to be really facts, no quotation in his book should be
assumed to be accurate." "(Finkelstein)
displays a paranoid belief in
some sort of global conspiracy of the Jewish elites in the U.S."
While I understand the impulse to advertise the opinions
of your political allies, it really does the Witherspoon Society no credit
to ally itself with a man like Norman Finkelstein.
sincerely yours,
Diana Appelbaum
The author of this note is a member of the Boston Israel
Action Committee, and
has sent comments previously to PresbyWeb. |
| Letter from 12 Jewish
organizations urges commissioners to oppose divestment
[6-9-06]
Another letter has also been sent to commissioners, not by an individual,
but by twelve large Jewish organizations. One friend tells us that this
represents what the "real Jewish community" in the United States feels.
The organizations include the American Jewish Committee,
American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, B’nai B’rith
International, and more.
It begins:
Dear Commissioners and Advisors to the 217th General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA):
Since your last General Assembly in 2004,
representatives of the Jewish Community have been actively involved with
your church concerning the use of 'phased, selective divestment' as a
means of addressing the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. These
past two years have seen an animated debate on this critical issue. In
fact, many of the overtures that have been submitted to the 217th General
Assembly concern divestment. Several encourage rescinding this policy,
others seek a change to positive investment in peace and
confidence-building projects, and some call for implementation of the
spirit of the overture presented at your last assembly. As you prepare to
represent yourselves, your presbyteries, your synods and your church, we
would like to reiterate our concerns. We pray that you will understand the
importance of this issue to the Jewish community, and appreciate that we
have faith in our ongoing dialogue. Our hope is that the church avoids a
position that will harm our ongoing relations, harm the very people you
hope to protect, and harm the prospects for a peaceful two-state solution
for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.
We want to speak specifically to why we feel divestment
and economic actions focused on Israel are wrong. We do so in the spirit
of candid, respectful, and direct dialogue, which we agree must be a
hallmark of our conversations - on even the most contentious issues.
The full
statement >> |
| |
| |
|
If you like what you find here,
we hope you'll help us keep this website going ... and growing!
Please consider making a special contribution --
large or small -- to help us continue and improve this service.
Click
here to send a gift online, using your credit card, through
PayPal.
Or send your check, made out to
"Witherspoon Society" and marked "web site," to our Witherspoon
Bookkeeper:
Susan Robertson
9650 Clover Circle
Eden Prairie, MN 55347 |
| |
|
An index of
our reports
from
BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation
to Global Discipleship
A Witherspoon conference
on global mission and justice
September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky |
| |
|
Check out our report from the
Conference
on
Terror, Torture,
and Security |
| |
|
