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.