The US Presbyterian Church is the latest far left organization to divest holdings in three companies with ties to Israel.
Meanwhile, the church remains silent on the terrorist Hamas government of the Palestinians. Three Israeli children including a US citizen were kidnapped in the West Bank last week.
The Courant reported:
A deeply-divided gathering of U.S. Presbyterian Church elders and ministers narrowly voted on Friday to divest the religious group’s holdings in three American companies it says have ties to Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian Territories.
As a result of the vote the church will divest holdings worth roughly $21 million in Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions.
“We as a church cannot profit from the destruction of homes and lives,” said Reverend Gradye Parsons in a statement about the decision at its meeting in Detroit. “We continue to invest in many businesses involved in peaceful pursuits in Israel.”
Members of one of the largest mainline Protestant denominations had voiced concerns for years over the prospect of companies profiting from “non-peaceful pursuits”, and the decision came amid an international movement pushing a boycott of Israeli goods.
Friday’s vote – 310 in favor, 303 against – came after about a decade of debate and the rejection by two votes in 2012 of a similar measure. It was almost certainly the largest such commitment among U.S. church-group conventions.