new york | As a growing number of Protestant churches consider imposing economic sanctions against Israel, the Jewish community is threatening to abandon interfaith dialogue with mainstream Protestant groups.
“Any Protestant denomination that would consider the weapon of economic sanctions to be unilaterally and prejudicially used against the state of Israel, or those who would hold the state of Israel to a standard different from any other sovereign state, creates an environment which makes constructive dialogue almost impossible,” mainstream Jewish defense groups and the three main religious streams wrote in an April 22 letter to Protestant leaders.
The letter is considered the strongest language that Jewish groups have used to date on the issue.
The letter “signals a change in the tone and the tenor of our discourse,” said Ethan Felson, assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
The missive comes after a flurry of recent activity by churches considering divestment some nine months after a Protestant group first made it a prominent issue.
That was last summer, when the Presbyterian Church USA passed a resolution considering a “selective, phased divestment” of companies that do business with Israel.
The resolution shocked Jewish officials, who in reaction scurried to step up interfaith relations. But it also created a point of departure for other Protestant denominations to mull divestment as a way, they believe, to promote Mideast peace.
In November 2004, the board of the Episcopal Church voted to consider divesting from companies which “contribute to the infrastructure of Israel’s ongoing occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,” along with companies with “connections to organizations responsible for violence against Israel.”
Two weeks ago, the board of the United Methodist Church voted to conduct a yearlong study to consider divestment. Last week, the United Church of Christ released resolutions it will consider at its annual conference in Atlanta in July; two suggest divestment, while one urges Israel to dismantle its West Bank security barrier.
In a move Jewish groups consider positive, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted last week for “constructive investment” to partner with Israeli and Palestinian organizations that promote peace.
The Protestant pursuit of divestment is not limited to the United States: The Geneva-based World Council of Churches, a predominantly European consortium, passed a resolution in February encouraging churches to follow the initiative of the Presbyterian Church USA and consider divesting from Israel.
The council has member churches around the world. Many of the North American groups considering divestment are affiliated with it.
Many Jewish observers have been stunned by the swirl of activity.
“I think it’s one of the stranger things I’ve seen,” said David Elcott, U.S. director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. “I don’t understand why this issue would come up now,” when Israel is taking steps for peace with the Palestinians.
Because Catholics are represented by the Vatican, they have diplomatic relations to make their case, and Jewish-Catholic relations are relatively strong. Last year, the Vatican issued a joint statement with Jewish officials calling anti- Zionism anti-Semitism.
Jewish groups aim to continue engaging the Protestant community on grass-roots and national levels and are seeking voices within the churches to oppose divestment.
A coalition of Jews and Protestants will meet May 13 in Washington, and an interfaith mission to Israel is planned for September.
“We have had our fingers crossed and we had done our work pretty well, I thought,” said Mark Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. But “it appears that we’re going to have to have a broader conversation, denomination by denomination.”
Katharine Rhodes Henderson, a Presbyterian minister who is executive vice president of the Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, said it’s still not clear how widespread the divestment move will become.
Now, “when there is movement on the ground,” it is precisely the time to invest, Henderson said.
“What’s happening on the ground is giving people pause,” she said, citing the Methodist desire to study the issue further as a signal of such reconsideration.
Even the Presbyterians have yet to take any concrete steps to divest from companies that do business with Israel.