A Call to the Anglican Church to Refuse to Divest from Israel

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As men and women who long for peace and mutual respect to prevail among the peoples of the world, we call on you to repudiate the initiative of the Anglican Peace and Justtice Network to adopt an anti-Israel divestment policy. Divestment is morally wrong because it unfairly singles out the nation of Israel for opprobrium, and it is bad policy because it is likely to lead not to peace but to war.

Professor Michael Walzer of the Princeton University, a moral philosopher, is the leading scholar in the world today of the Just War theory developed by generations of Christian theologians. He has written, "The current boycott campaign against Israel, modeled on the 1980s campaign against South Africa, aims at a very one-sided delegitimation. And because the other side isn't led by an organization remotely like the African National Congress, or by a man remotely like Nelson Mandela, the success of this campaign would be disastrous. It would strengthen the forces fighting the (Palestinian war to destroy the state of Israel)."

Nor has the Anglican Communion been an honest broker in the Middle East. A study released on Sept. 26, 2004 by the Institute on Religion and Democracy shows that fully one-third of church statements on human rights issues are aimed at Israel. Another third are aimed at the United States.

By contrast, "Only 19 percent of the church criticisms were aimed at nations deemed "not free" in the 2004 Freedom House assessments. Many of the countries rated lowest by Freedom House-such as China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia-were not criticized even once. Of the fifteen worst human rights abusers listed by Freedom House, only five received any criticism during the four years studied."

The Anglican Church has not divested from China in protest over its illegal occupations of Tibet and Eastern Turkmenistan. It has not divested from Syria despite that nations occupation of Lebanon and massacres of minority Kurds. It has not divested form Nigeria despite brutal efforts to impose shaaria on unwilling Christians. It has not divested from Iran where Bahai are murdered by their own government for their faith. Against this background, the initiative to divest from only one nation state, the national state of the Jewish people, is highly suspect.

As Harvard University President Lawrence Summers said with regard to another effort to promote divestment from Israel, such actions are anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent.

The Catholic Church has officially stated: We oppose anti-Semitism in any way and form, including anti-Zionism that has become of late a manifestation of anti-Semitism.

This is a moment when Canterbury would do well to listen to Rome.

1302 Signatures

  • alex z
    • city, state, country
    • newton, ma, usa
  • Alex G
    • city, state, country
    • Brookline, MA, USA
  • Alexandra W
    • city, state, country
    • New York, NY USA
  • Alvin F
    • city, state, country
    • Oceanside,Ca. USA
    • congregation or parish
    • Cong. Etz Rimon
  • carole a
    • city, state, country
    • alamo, ca usa
  • Amanda D
    • city, state, country
    • London, England, UK
  • Prof. Michael A
    • city, state, country
    • Amherst, NY, USA
    • congregation or parish
    • Beth El
  • allen m
    • city, state, country
    • NY, NY USA
  • Alan N
    • city, state, country
    • Middletown, CT 06457
    • comments
    • truly shocking how the Church is being hijacked by Islamic fascists.
  • Pablo
    • city, state, country
    • sweden
    • congregation or parish
    • stockholm swedish catholic church
    • comments
    • Get your act together; Jesus was jewish, we as christians have an OBLIGATION to support our jewish brethren, or will we sell out to anti-semitism/anti-zionism just as christians did during the nazis?
  • Andrew H
    • city, state, country
    • Hobken, NJ, USA
  • A. B
    • city, state, country
    • New Zealand
    • comments
    • I am totally against anti-semitism in any form
  • Ariel N
    • city, state, country
    • cambridge, ma, usa
  • Ann S
    • city, state, country
    • Arlington, TX, USA
  • Anne S
    • city, state, country
    • Alexandria, VA
    • congregation or parish
    • Westminster Presbyterian Church
  • S. Meyer A
    • city, state, country
    • w.bloomfield, mi 48322
  • J. Ari D
    • city, state, country
    • Cambridge, MA 02139
  • Ari W
    • city, state, country
    • Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
  • Aron G
    • city, state, country
    • London, U.K.
  • Prof. Arthur B
    • city, state, country
    • Boulder, CO., USA
    • comments
    • I fully endorse the petition
  • Arthur J. S
    • city, state, country
    • Marlboro, NJ USA
    • congregation or parish
    • Chabad Western Monmouth County
    • comments
    • Bless Israel and be blessed curse Israel and be cursed
  • Alexander S
    • city, state, country
    • Brookline, MA USA
  • Alan I
    • city, state, country
    • Berwyn PA USA
  • Anita
    • city, state, country
    • Melbourne
    • comments
    • Make the Jews pull down the wall so the Muslims can heed the calls of the Imans to kill the Jews and save the Islam from evil. Shame on the Angican Church.
  • Allan Abraham T
    • city, state, country
    • Manotick, Ontario, Canada
    • comments
    • seek true justice and avoid hypocrisy, it's unbecoming a world religion
  • chana r
    • city, state, country
    • denmark, hvidovre
    • congregation or parish
    • pentecostale
    • comments
    • Shalom and love in the name of YESHUA in unity not diversity
  • Avigail A
    • city, state, country
    • Newton, MA and Barnard College
    • congregation or parish
    • singling Israel out for opprobrium and boycotts is wrong
  • Adam W
    • city, state, country
    • Philadelphia, PA.
  • Barry C
    • city, state, country
    • Falmouth, MA, USA
  • Barbara
    • city, state, country
    • Fort Worth, TX
  • Beverley
    • city, state, country
    • Israel
    • comments
    • Please note comments of signatory no. 41. Your actions are one-sided and disregard the facts of both sides of the conflict in the Middle East. You either do not know the facts or are not interested in them. It appears that your actions are anti-semitic in nature. This, I believe, is against your consistitution, not to mention being distinctly un-Christian!
  • Cliff B
    • city, state, country
    • Issaquah, WA, USA
    • comments
    • The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  • irwin & barbara h
    • city, state, country
    • Jerusalem, Israel
  • Mrs Barbara B
    • city, state, country
    • Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales
  • Barbara C
    • city, state, country
    • New York, New York, USA
  • Liston B
    • city, state, country
    • New Zealand
    • comments
    • Birds of a feather flock together. "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write...Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing: and knoweth not that thou art wretched, miserable and poor and blind and naked .... so then because thou art lukewarm... I will spue thee out of my mouth......." Rev 3, 14 onwards
  • Bernard B
    • city, state, country
    • NY, NY 10027
  • William D
    • city, state, country
    • Delray Beach,,Florida, USA
    • comments
    • Why don't the Arab countries absorb the Palestinans, just as Israel has absorbed the Jews that were expelled from the Arab lands that they had lived in for hundreds of years.
  • Bertrand W
    • city, state, country
    • Beechhurst, NY USA
  • David B
    • city, state, country
    • New Zealand
  • H W
    • city, state, country
    • Huntington Beach, CA USA
  • steven b
    • city, state, country
    • newton, ma, usa
  • Ben
    • city, state, country
    • Merion, PA USA
  • Ben G
    • city, state, country
    • Holmdel, NJ USA
  • Daniel M. F
    • city, state, country
    • West Hartford, CT, USA
  • Jay B
    • city, state, country
    • Newington CT
    • congregation or parish
    • Temple Sinai
  • Bernadette B
    • city, state, country
    • New York, New York, USA
  • Bernice G
    • city, state, country
    • Holmdel, NJ
  • Betty Gutman S
    • city, state, country
    • Greenwich,Ct,USA
  • Barbara Chasen, P
    • city, state, country
    • New York, New York, USA