The Divestment Gap

Washington

A

merican Jewish leaders see it as
a dire threat, but in Jerusalem,
the current push for "divest-
ment" by mainline Protestant groups
eager to punish the Jewish state is a non-
issue — so much so that at a recent con-
ference, Israel's foreign minister admitted
he didn't have a clue about the raging
controversy.
Israeli officials may be making a big
mistake — one more complication for
Jewish leaders here who see divestment
as a full-fledged emergency.
In recent weeks, there has been
progress in the anti-divestment battle
waged by the American Jewish
Committee, Anti-Defamation League
and Jewish Council for Public Affairs,
among others.
The Episcopal Church, while not for-
saking divestment, has indicated a will-
ingness to keep talking to Jewish groups;
other churches have reacted cautiously
to talk of divestment; and an attempt to
get the liberal National Council of
Churches to join the campaign was
unsuccessffil.
But the threat is far from over.
The Presbyterian Church (USA),
which ignited the divestment firestorm
with a resolution at its convention in
July, continues to plan for economic
sanctions against companies that "con-
tribute" to Israel's occupation of Gaza
and the West Bank. Other churches still
see divestment as one remedy for an
occupation they regard as immoral.
The potential economic damage to
Israel is a relatively minor threat. Much
more ominous is the way the open talk
about economic sanctions boosts the
notion that there is something funda-
mentally illegitimate about the Jewish
state itself At the heart of that threat is
the devastating comparison to the
apartheid system that once made South
Africa a pariah.
These Christians remember that it
were strong economic sanctions, pushed
aggressively by the churches, that helped
bring down a system in South Africa
that was almost universally reviled.
Other countries suffered worse human
rights abuses during the apartheid era,
but South Africa stood out because seg-
regation and inequality were written into
law and woven tightly into the culture
and because of its isolation in the world
community
Some Americans on the secular and
religious left see Israel's occupation of

James D. Besser is a Washington corre-

spondent for the Detroit Jewish News.
His e-mail address is jbesser@att.net

ty's most reliable coalition part-
Gaza and the West Bank
ners on a wide range of domes-
through the same lens; Israel's
tic issues, starting with church-
settlements and the tangle of
state separation and social jus-
bypass roads and checkpoints,
tice concerns. In contrast, the
they believe, point to a perma-
religious right is a fierce oppo-
nent system similar to apartheid.
nent of the American Jewish
And too often, Israeli officials
,
majority on those same issues.
seem to confirm their worst sus-
Israeli officials may dismiss
picions.
JAMES D.
the entire controversy as too
Israel's planned Gaza redeploy-
BESSER
trivial for their attention, but
ment is the product of a conflu-
Special
Jewish
leaders here understand
ence of factors. But every time
Commentary
they have to find some way to
an Israeli official suggests the
correct the terrible bias of the
pullout is really intended to
solidify Israel's hold on the West Bank, it Protestants on Israel without mortally
confirms to many their suspicion that it's wounding coalitions that Jews need for
domestic security interests. The task is
merely a ruse to impose a kind of
Bantustan (South African apartheid) sys- complicated by reckless Israeli officials,
like the top Sharon aide who suggested
tem on the Palestinian territories. So,
the Gaza pullout plan is meant to put
too, does the image of Israel's security
broader peace efforts into
fence — built to stop terrorism after
"formaldehyde."
Palestinian officials recklessly refused to
American Jewish leaders are deter-
do so, but also creating damaging
images of Palestinian communities encir- mined to broaden support for the Jewish
state; Israel's right-wing leaders smugly
cled and cut off. Bolstering that connec-
believe their support from the American
tion is renewed talk about Israel's con-
religious right will protect them from
troversial ties to the former South
the mainline Christians, not understand-
African regime and its role as an arms
ing how the former group is a flash
supplier.
point for bitter controversy in this coun-
At a time when many Palestinians and
try.
their foreign sympathizers are threaten-
Israeli officials have often misread
ing to abandon support for a two-state
American domestic political realities;
solution and demand a bi-national,
democratic and non-Jewish state encom- their indifference to the divestment
undercurrent could prove a particularly
passing Israel, Gaza and the West Bank,
costly error. ❑ _ 1
the apartheid comparison is particularly
invidious:
Israeli officials feel they can ignore that
challenge because their country enjoys
such strong support from the current
administration and from its Christian-
right base. They should heed the lesson
THE ISSUE
of the former South African regime,
Many people in the Jewish com-
which was certain President Ronald
munity are perplexed by the Pres-
Reagan would protect it from the world-
byterian
church's long history of
wide sanctions push — an expectation
siding
with
the Palestinians in the
that came crashing down in 1985, when
Arab-Israeli
conflict and that
Reagan abruptly changed U.S. policy
church's
seeming
dismissal of the
This administration s support for
legitimacy
of
Zionism.
A look at
Israel's current government could change
the
church's
theology
provides
a
as international pressures mount and
partial answer.
political realities here shift as President
George W. Bush begins his last term.
BEHIND THE ISSUE
The religious right, while still growing in
Presbyterians adhere to replace-
political influence, is far from omnipo-
ment theology, a belief system
tent; the mainline Christians represent
which proclaims a New Israel —
millions of Americans, many politically
Christians replacing the previous
influential. And the political influence of
Israel, the Jewish nation. In this
the Evangelicals could wane — or their
theology, the old Israel loses its
support for Israel could be diluted by
covenant with God and its inheri-
the internal divisions to which their
tance of the land of Israel, thereby
movement is prone.
leaving the Palestinians as the only
Israeli leaders also seem oblivious to
current legitimate claimants.
the domestic political implications of the
divestment crisis. Groups like the
Presbyterians, while persistent critics of
— Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Israel, are among the Jewish communi-
Council °Metropolitan Detroit

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