Presbyterians vote against Israeli apartheid

[mhgaffney]

The Presbyterians followed Bishop Desmond Tutu's advice and voted to disenfranchise from three US companies that service the Israeli military.

This was a committee vote. It now goes to the general assembly. Read on. MHG

Presbyterian Church takes step towards divesting from Israeli military-linked companies
Alex Kane on June 17, 2014

The Middle East Issues Committee at the Presbyterian Church’s general assembly in Detroit voted 45-20 today to recommend divesting from three companies that do business with the Israeli military. While the resolution still has to go to the general plenary for it to be adopted, Palestinian rights advocates celebrated the move as a first step towards divestment.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/presby...companies.html

[mhgaffney]

In ‘turning-point’ vote, Presbyterians divest from occupation-linked corporations

Philip Weiss and Alex Kane on June 20, 2014

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/in-tur...porations.html

Nearly 30 years after it divested from corporations complicit in South African apartheid, the Presbyterian Church voted 310-303 to divest from three corporations involved with the Israeli military and its occupation. The vote means that $21 million of Presbyterian stock in Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola Solutions will be divested.

The extraordinarily close vote (51% to 49% of delegates) came after an intense hours-long debate that featured emotional pleas on all sides.

“It hurts me to know that we invest in the tearing apart of Palestinian lives,” said Emma Warman, a youth delegate, before the vote took place. The advisory voters, including the youth delegates, overwhelmingly recommended a positive vote for divestment.

This close vote came two years after another close vote that went in the opposite direction. In 2012, the Presbyterian Church rejected divestment by just two votes.

[mhgaffney]

Conflicted coverage shows: ‘NYT’ is now disputed territory

James North and Phil Weiss on June 21, 2014

The Israel/Palestine conflict is the central issue in American public life today. The New York Times has five stories that touch on it in today’s paper.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/confli...territory.html

[mhgaffney]

Bishop Tutu may have helped tip the balance in the historic vote.
MHG

Desmond Tutu: U.S. Christians must recognize Israel as apartheid state

Veteran anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu wants Presbyterian Church, currently meeting in Detroit, to pass series of anti-Israel resolutions.
By Haaretz | Jun. 17, 2014

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.599422

[W*GS]

The Israel/Palestine conflict is the central issue in American public life today.

No, it's not.

But given your obsession with Jews, it's central to your sick, pathetic, twisted, waste of a life.

[mhgaffney]

The Methodists have also begun to divest. This actually happened before the Presbyterian vote.

Let's hope/pray we've reached a historic turning point. MHG

United Methodist Church's pension board divests from Israel-linked company

By JTA | Jun. 14, 2014

The United Methodist Church’s pension board is selling its shares in a British company that supplies security equipment to Israel for use in prisons and in the West Bank.

Though a pro-Palestinian movement inside the Church claimed the divestment is due to human rights violations by Israel, the UMC's pension board said the move was actually about the targeted company’s work with prisons in general.

A press release issued by United Methodist Kairos Response, a movement within the church that advocates on behalf of Palestinian Christians, said the decision to divest from G4S was “due in part to concerns about the company’s involvement in human rights violations in the Israeli prison system and the military occupation of Palestinian territories.”

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/...-news/1.598629

[SoCalBronco]

Gaff gonna Gaff

[peacepipe]

At this point I hope everyone divest from Israel.

[Tombstone RJ]

peacepipe has divested from reality. Gaff is gaff.

[mhgaffney]

Reality as defined by whom?

Some stupid ignorant American?

Wake up to the world, Tomb. Racist states will not be tolerated in the global community of the future.

Assuming there is a future, which is very much in doubt, at the moment. MHG

[W*GS]

Assuming there is a future, which is very much in doubt, at the moment. MHG

Do you **** yourself continuously?

[cutthemdown]

Let's divest from Israel and instead kiss the ass of Hamas and Hezzbollah.

Signed,

Obummer.

[mhgaffney]

The Jewish State Is Crime Against Humanity
HARDtalk Speaks to Israeli Historian, Ilan Pappe

Video

Ilan Pappesays the record shows that the Jewish state is born of a deliberate program of ethnic cleansing.

http://www.informationclearinghouse....ticle38960.htm

[mhgaffney]

Ilan Pape is a courageous man and a brave historian.

It takes guts to speak the truth about Palestine. Especially for an Israeli Jew.