AJC condemns Presbyterian Church’s reaffirmed support for BDS

The American Jewish Committee condemns a recent slate of pro-Palestinian and pro-BDS resolutions passed by the Presbyterian Church (USA).

“The Church remains obsessively critical of Israel in its national utterances,” says AJC’s director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations Rabbi Noam Marans.

“For many years and in myriad ways, the PCUSA has gone beyond legitimate criticism of Israel and embraced demonization of the Jewish state.”

Among the ten measures passed by the Presbyterian Church on Friday was one vote opposing anti-BDS legislation at the state and federal level and another referring to Israel as an apartheid state.

On the other hand, Marans says “there was a glimmer of hope for future Presbyterian-Jewish relations.”

The AJC says that a particularly egregious overture that called for curtailing dialogue with Israel supporters was replaced by one that called for interfaith dialogue.