Session calls on G.A. to nullify action on Israel divestment, censure ACSWP By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Wednesday, November 24, 2004 Saying that the action to divest its stock in corporations that do business with Israel was "instituted capriciously and with misguided intentions," a Virginia congregation is calling on the General Assembly "to suspend, renounce and nullify the proceedings." The session of River Road Presbyterian Church in Richmond also is calling for the "strongest condemnation and censure of the General Assembly's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy for its misguided and reprehensible statements to Hezbollah leaders." Global criticism of the Presbyterian Church (USA) over its position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict intensified in the wake of the General Assembly's action and statements by Presbyterians friendly to Hezbollah, which the U.S. lists as a terrorist group and blames for the deaths of 270 Americans in two bombings. Commissioners to the 216th General Assembly, which met June 26-July 3 in Richmond, Va., voted 431 to 62 to have the church's Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) study the issue of a selective divestment of holdings in multinational corporations doing business in Israel and make recommendations to the General Assembly Council. In early November, the committee established six criteria for the process, under which no stock could be sold before June 2006. The Presbyterian News Service reported that four of the six criteria target the Israeli occupation – including the construction of Jewish settlements that further entrenches it. A fifth aims to identify multinational corporations that enable violence by either Palestinians or Israelis. The final criterion addresses the Israeli government's ongoing construction of a separation barrier, which the Assembly condemned in another action in June. News that a delegation comprised mostly of members of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy on Oct. 17 had met with Hezbollah's leaders further enflamed tensions between Jewish groups and the denomination. Two high-level denominational employees were fired for taking part in the controversial meeting with Hezbollah - Kathy Leuckert, deputy executive associate director of the General Assembly Council, and Peter Sulyok, coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. In response to these developments, the session adopted the following two resolutions: Resolution A "In view that the action of the General Assembly singles out Israel for rebuke largely because of its efforts to defend the people of Israel, which includes more than a million Arabs who are citizens of Israel, from fear of terrorist violence and violence itself, and "In view that Israel has the right of a sovereign nation to defend itself and its people from terrorist activities, which the people and nation have experienced numerous times with horrendous loss of life, and "In view that Israel's responses cannot be construed, as alleged, as waging war against civilian Palestinians, and "In view that the action taken by the General Assembly to divest in American corporations doing commerce in Israel was instituted capriciously and with misguided intentions, and "In view that the divestiture action itself traduces, albeit with the state of Israel, the doctrine of separation of church and state, a doctrine so passionately embraced by Presbyterians of this very church, state and nation, and a doctrine for which the forefathers of many Presbyterians of this very church, state and nation fought and died to win, and "In view that the General Assembly has irresponsibly placed an imprudent and unnecessary challenge to the trustees of the funds of the Presbyterian Foundation and the Board of Pensions solely for ulterior political purposes that far exceeds the dutiful and legitimate charge on those trustees, and "In view that the funds of the Presbyterian Foundation and the Board of Pensions should not serve as pawns in a political gambit effected for the shallow motives of some delegates of the General Assembly, "The Session of the River Road Presbyterian Church urges the Presbytery, Synod and Council of the General Assembly to suspend, renounce and nullify the proceedings leading to the implementation of the General Assembly action toward divestiture of legitimate investments of American corporations engaged in commerce with the state of Israel." Resolution B "In a related matter, the Session of the River Road Presbyterian Church recommends the strongest condemnation and censure of the General Assembly's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) for its misguided and reprehensible statements to Hezbollah leaders in a meeting with those leaders Oct. 17 in Lebanon. The statements, made in an unauthorized meeting with the Hezbollah leaders, even liberally construed, encourage terror tactics against Israel and the Israeli people by Hezbollah and other Palestinian militant organizations. The session strongly believes that the ACSWP'S unauthorized and unwarranted statements do not represent the sentiments, opinion and position of this church, Presbytery or Synod."

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