By Dexter Van Zile
September 9, 2005
The day after suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's subways and buses, the leaders of two American churches, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, sent a joint statement of solidarity to England's United Reform Church whose offices were close to the attack. The statement was a natural and human response to a terrorist attack on innocent civilians and stands in stark contrast to the churches' attitude toward previous victims of terrorism -- the Jews of Israel.
This summer, the UCC and the DOC passed resolutions insisting that Israel stop building a fence around the West Bank, dismantle portions already constructed, and pay reparations to Palestinians whose lives have been impacted by its path. The resolutions did not ask Palestinians to end the suicide attacks that made the barrier necessary; indeed they make no mention whatsoever of the Israeli deaths these attacks have caused. The churches offer words of condemnation to Israel for building a barrier to stop terror attacks, which when perpetrated in London, elicit words of comfort.
To these churches, attacks against Israelis are tolerable; attacks against Londoners are not. Palestinian hardship weighs more than Jewish lives.
Intentional or not, these resolutions express racist contempt toward Israelis, not just the security barrier they condemn. India's barrier, built on its border with Pakistan -- on disputed territory gets a pass; Israel's does not. This constitutes an undeniable form of racism. It must be repudiated.
Those searching for mitigating language in these resolutions will find thin gruel indeed. Yes, they include a nod to Israel's right of self-defense (rendered an abstraction by the condemnation of the one method that works without endangering Palestinian lives), an even-handed denunciation of violence on both sides (with no reference to the fact that Palestinians target civilians and Israelis do not), and a vague acknowledgement that both Israelis and Palestinians have been "wounded" by the conflict (with no acknowledgement that Palestinian wounds are largely self-inflicted through a refusal to negotiate and an aggressive campaign of terror against Israel).
The guise of evenhandedness is transparent. While the churches condemn the impact of the security fence on Palestinians with great specificity, they are mute about Israeli deaths. The resolutions accurately report that Palestinian olive trees have been torn up; they take no note of Jewish bodies torn asunder. The resolutions report Palestinians have a tough time getting to work because of the barrier but fail to acknowledge Israeli efforts to speed passage through checkpoints. They do not mention the fear Jewish mothers feel when sending their kids to school. The resolutions do not describe blown up buses, Orthodox Jews picking body parts out of trees, or grieving mothers mourning the loss of their children images that would put the barrier's construction into a truthful context. Palestinian inconvenience and property loss experienced by Palestinians (for which the Israeli government offers compensation) is mourned loudly throughout with no moan or sigh for the Israeli dead.
Moreover, the continuous teachings of hate broadcast on Palestinian Television go unmentioned in these Christian resolutions, which invoke Ephesians 2:14, a description of how Christ has "broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us." The Arab wall of hate is invisible; the Jewish "wall" of self-defense is the offensive crime. Anti-Jewish sentiment is indeed condoned by these churches' silence. Compare the UCC's call to end to rhetoric "that fuels hostility, misunderstanding, fear and hatred expressed toward gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons" included in its resolution on marriage equality passed this summer with its silence about anti-Jewish sermons on Palestinian Television. An undeniable double standard is at work. What are the Jews, and their enemies, to think? That Jews are no longer part of the human family worthy of comfort and protection?
With these resolutions, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ allowed their prophetic voices to be used in a patently discriminatory manner against the State of the Jews. If the racist message these resolutions offer is not forcefully countered, they will contribute to anti-Jewish sentiment everywhere. The message here is loud and clear -- Jews can be killed. Protestants won't complain -- unless Jews build a "wall" to stop it.
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