8 | JULY 21 • 2022 

statement
Presbyterian Church (USA) Bears False Witness

T

he adoption by the 
General Assembly 
of the Presbyterian 
Church (USA) of a deceit-
ful resolution that falsely 
defines Israel as an apart-
heid state is “an insult to 
Jews and Christians alike 
which damages interfaith 
relations,” said Rabbi Eric J. 
Greenberg, Simon Wiesenthal 
Center’s (SWC) director of 
United Nations Relations and 
Strategic Partnerships and a 
longtime activist in Interfaith 
efforts.
 “PCUSA leadership has 
violated G-d’s commandment 
not to bear false witness, 
rendered itself irrelevant in 
the world of peacemaking, 
and made a mockery of 
honest dialogue and interfaith 
relations,” Greenberg said 
following the July 7 GA 
vote to define Israel as an 
apartheid state, which was 
approved by an overwhelming 
vote of 266 to 116.

 SWC officials noted that 
PCUSA leaders rigged the 
debate on the resolution, 
known as an overture, 
by providing untrue and 
misleading information 
to church members and 
preventing any Jewish or pro-
Israel voices to oppose the 
proposal — a violation of the 
church’s own policies. Among 
the falsehoods promoted by 
PCUSA leadership was com-
paring Israeli policy to Nazi 
Germany and falsely claiming 
there is widespread Jewish 
support for the overture.
“We denounce this rigged 
process and false resolution 
that libels the Jewish nation 
and Judaism,” declared Rabbi 
Abraham Cooper, SWC’s 
associate dean and director 
of Global Social Action, and 
Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein, 
director of Interfaith 
Affairs. “It takes place under 
the administration of an 
antisemitic Stated Clerk, Rev. 

Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, and 
is the culmination of a decade 
long anti-Israel, anti-Jewish 
agenda from the church’s 
leadership in Louisville.”
 “The overture violates 
PCUSA policy, effectively 
demanding that Israel end its 
own existence and deny Jews 
the right of self-determina-
tion,” said the activist group 
Presbyterians for Middle 
East Peace, which opposed 
the antisemitic, anti-Israel 
resolutions from PCUSA 
leadership. “It is important 
to note that 70% of PCUSA 
commissioners voted to 
approve this,” said PfMEP 
Pastor John Wimberly. “But 
70% of Presbyterians would 
not agree.” 
 SWC commended PfMEP 
for denouncing the apartheid 
resolution, PCUSA’s one-sid-
ed debate process, and for 
promising to continue posi-
tive Presbyterians-Jewish rela-
tions on a local level despite 

the latest affront by PCUSA 
leadership.
 “Our fear going into this 
GA was that there would 
not be a real conversation 
about the issue of apartheid, 
and our fears were realized,” 
PfMEP wrote. “There was no 
U.S. Jewish or Israeli voice 
asked to speak to the com-
mittee. There was no dis-
cussion about the reality of 
the State of Israel in which 
Jews and Arabs have equal 
rights under the law, where 
both Jews and Arabs can vote 
and hold office, where Arabs 
sit on the Supreme Court 
… The impact of passing 
such an overture are violent 
attacks and hate may increase 
against American Jews, who 
are already under siege and 
feeling isolated. Extremists 
on both sides in Israel and 
Palestine will be emboldened 
to fuel even more division, 
conflict, and violence,” 
PfMEP noted. 

PURELY COMMENTARY

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER

BEER SHEBA continued from page 6

Center (serving a geographical 
area of over 60% of the area 
of Israel and over 1 million 
residents) as well as the IDF, is 
putting the city on the forefront 
of Israel’s innovation scene. The 
tech park is planned to include 
15 buildings and employ 
over 10,000 high-tech work-
ers. Recently, two large cyber 
companies, Cyberseason and 
CyberArk, announced estab-
lishing R&D centers in Beer 
Sheba, joining companies such 
as IBM, Dell, Amazon, Cisco, 

Microsoft and Google along 
with hundreds of startups who 
have already created a presence 
in the city.
Even Israel Railways are on 
board, with stations connecting 
Tel Aviv in less than a one-
hour commute. One of the 
most popular mayors in the 
country is Beer Sheba’s Rubik 
Danilovich, who was recently 
reelected with over 92% of 
the ballots. He recently stated, 
“Beer Sheba is turning into a 
national-technology hub and 

an international knowledge 
center. There is no other city 
in the world that concentrates 
so much tech-knowledge and 
excellent human resources in 
such a small radius.
” 
And if the innovative spirit 
of Beer Sheba is not enough, 
it is an affordable city for the 
young family that is finding out-
rageous housing prices in the 
center of the country and home 
ownership almost unattainable. 
Beer Sheba’s property prices are 
almost 70% lower than in Tel 

Aviv, and rents are reasonable 
and available. Something very 
big is happening in Beer Sheba. 
“It is in the Negev that the 
creativity and pioneer vigor of 
Israel shall be tested,
” said David 
Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime 
minister. 

Naomi Miller is director of Israel 

Partnerships at the Michigan Israel 

Business Accelerator and the director 

of Missions and Exchanges at the 

Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit. 

This essay is reprinted from the MIBA.

