Israel foreign ministry criticises US church boycott as immoral

Israel challenged the morality of a decision by a US church to divest from companies that operate in the West Bank Tuesday, saying the Christian congregants would be better off helping to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians instead of the ‘demonization’ of the Jewish State, The Time of Israel reported.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the United Church of Christ’s policies have “reflected the most radical politics for more than a decade and in no way reflect a moral stance or reality-based position.”

In 2005, the denomination passed a resolution calling for “economic leverage” to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and had accused Israel of widespread human rights abuses against the Palestinians.

The US-based church’s General Synod endorsed the action on a vote of 508-124 with 38 abstentions during its meeting in Cleveland. The liberal Protestant group has its roots in churches founded by the English Pilgrims and Puritans as well as later immigrants from Germany and other countries.