t2 1

Service, is the official news agency
of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The anonymous letter was post-
marked from Queens, N.Y.
"We disagree vehemently with the
Presbyterian Church [on matters of
Israel and their talk of divestment
in companies that support Israel],
but we don't condone violence of
any kind," Kellman said. "It's any
citizen's First Amendment right
to disagree.
Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor,
the New York-based ADL director
of interfaith affairs, issued a state-
ment condemning the "threatened
use of violence against Presbyterian
churches because of decisions made
by the Presbyterian Church (USA)
to pursue a course of divestment
from Israel. We strongly believe the
appropriate way to resolve the
differences between the Jewish
community and the Presbyterians
is through dialogue and not
violence.
Over the past few months, Jewish
and Presbyterian leaders have had
several exchanges over a mid-
October visit between a 24-member
delegation of the church's Advisory
Committee on Social Witness Policy
and representatives of Hezbollah in
southern Lebanon. On Oct. 23, top
officials of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) in a letter to Jewish leaders,
renounced the meeting and called it
"misguided."
The controversy over divestment
was reported Oct. 18 by the
Associated Press. Presbyterian Rev.
Nile Harper of Ann Arbor, critical
of Israel, reportedly stated that the
general assembly of his church had
instructed its investment agencies to
study the possibility of withdrawing
its investments in U.S. firms [total-
ing $8 billion] "whose products are
being destructively used against the
Palestinians by Israel."
The 2.4 million-member
Presbyterian Church has 11,200
congregations in the United States
and Puerto Rico. 7

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