The year-long delayed, and recently streamlined 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church has completed three days of concentrated action and worship in Baltimore, yielding four reasons to be excited. During that time the Bishops and Deputies adopted an amended version of Resolution C013 on Freedom of Speech and the Right to Boycott. It also adopted an amended version of Resolution C039 entitled Justice and Peace in the Holy Land – Our Call to Action. And, it adopted Resolution D024, Conditioning U.S. Military Assistance on Human Rights.  And the House of Bishops also adopted the enigmatically titled Resolution A216, The Patriarchs and Heads of Local Churches of the Holy Land.

Resolution C013 calls on “the President of the United States, the U.S. Congress, Governors, and State Legislatures to oppose legislation that penalizes or criminalizes support for all nonviolent boycotts, divestment and/or sanctions, especially on behalf of Palestinian human rights, as an infringement of First Amendment rights.” According to Palestine Legal, more than 30 state legislatures and the federal government have proposed or passed legislation which would limit the rights of Americans to participate in a boycott of products coming from the illegal Israeli settlements or Israel itself. While several of the state laws have been successfully challenged in the courts, one of those victories was recently overturned on appeal and may be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for further consideration. Adoption of Resolution C013 should allow The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations (OGR) to oppose such legislation in meetings with legislators and via action alerts from the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN).

Resolution C039 recognizes “the right of the State of Israel to exist” AND “condemn[s] the continued occupation, segregation and oppression of the Palestinian people; recognizing that for Israel to continue as a democracy it must allow for equality of all its peoples;…”. In the past year a growing library of documentation of Israel’s discriminatory practices has been published by B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organization, by Human Rights Watch, by Amnesty International, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine. While not using the term apartheid, a second resolved also urges “the President of the United States and the U.S. Congress to take action to oppose Israeli laws and practices that result in unequal rights for two peoples.”  Again, adoption of Resolution C039 should allow the OGR to raise its voice with the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and to solicit broad opposition to anti-Palestinian discrimination via action alerts from the EPPN.

Unlike the previous two resolutions, which were considered first by Committee 7, Social Justice and International Policy, and began their courses toward adoption in the House of Bishops, Resolution D024  was heard by Committee 8, Social Justice and U.S. Policy, and advanced through the House of Deputies. The resolution reaffirms The Episcopal Church’s “longstanding commitment to supporting human rights in our own countries and around the world, and to ensuring that U.S. military assistance and arms sales not be used to perpetuate conflict, violate human rights, or contribute to corruption, instability, or violence;…”. More specifically, it resolves that the previously mentioned Office of Government Relations and the Episcopal Public Policy Network “support policies to oppose U.S. government military assistance, including the sale or provision of arms and related technologies such as surveillance equipment, to countries that have demonstrated well-documented, persistent, and egregious human rights abuses or severe corruption contributing to instability and conflict, and work to ensure that the United States government is not playing a role in furthering violent conflicts.” While not specifically mentioning any country, we know that the Israelis receive the largest portion of U.S. military aid, and that Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon are also in the Top Ten, so adoption of this Resolution should strengthen the Episcopal voice inside the Beltway of Washington, DC.

Unlike the other three resolutions, Resolution A216 falls into the category of Privilege and Courtesy resolutions which do not have to be passed by both houses. Usually they convey a message or recognize an individual or group for their work and witness. This resolution was generated in the House of Bishops, and is significant for the language it employs. Specifically, the resolution expresses “alarm at the escalating threat to the Christian presence”  in Jerusalem and the Holy Land “from Israeli radical groups… actively seeking to undermine the Christian communities of the Holy Land”. The resolution also offers the bishops’ support to the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches for their efforts “to raise awareness of the plight of the Churches in the Holy Land;” and expresses “deep concern for the consequences for the ongoing life of the residents of the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem”, following the recent Israeli Supreme Court decision to uphold the claims of “a radical settler organization” on property of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem located at the Jaffa Gate. The Bishops concluded their message by promising to “pray and work for the stability, well-being, and prosperity of the Christian communities of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, especially in this season of increasing pressure from those who seek to change fundamentally the historic multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-religious character of the region.” EPF PJN will be watching and encouraging those efforts as we look toward the next General Convention, only two years away!.

In addition to these resolutions, EPF PJN celebrated with our partners in The Consultation who also enjoyed successes, particularly in resolutions addressing racial inequities and care and ministering to Trans members of our Church. Read about these and other resolutions from The Consultation here.

In the coming days we hope to offer further additional news concerning the fate of other resolutions we were promoting and analysis about the actions taken at General Convention 80 in Baltimore. Stay in touch!

Thanks to the EPF PJN team who monitored the legislative sessions and Randy Heyn-Lamb who crafted the report with editorial assistance from Harry Gunkel.

Occasionally and somewhat unpredictably, readers of PJNontheGo emails and followers of the EPF PJN Facebook page will find a message that we have “signed on” to a statement or letter, or endorsed a webinar or other action initiated by another group. Endorsements are upon request from the initiating group and after consideration by our Communications Workgroup or/and the Steering Committee. Endorsements can be important tools in amplifying our message to a wider audience that includes non-Episcopalians. Endorsements also help solidify the connections between EPF PJN and other denominational PJNs, and with larger, umbrella religious or secular organizations pursuing justice, reconciliation and peace in Palestine and Israel. 

In late May, for example, the Communications Workgroup, with the support of our Steering Committee,  joined more than 60 other organizations in endorsing a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken initiated by Representative Cori Bush (1st-MO) and signed by 15 other House members. Her letter asked President Biden’s senior diplomatic officer to press Israel to stop the forcible transfer of over 1,000 Palestinians from their Masafer Yatta homes in the hills south of Hebron. While this and a similar letter initiated by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley seem to have not had the desired impact, by signing the letter we gave witness to your concerns and let the influential first term Representative Bush know we have her back.

About a week earlier  EPF-PJN posted a statement on our Facebook page supporting the Rev. Stephen Sizer, a priest in the Church of England who faced a religious tribunal after accusations of antisemitism made by the Board of Deputies of British Jews. We believe Rev. Dr. Sizer was targeted by the small but influential Board of Deputies because his statements and activities in support for Palestinian human rights and opposing Christian Zionism have been influential in shaping opinions. The Bishop’s Tribunal in the Diocese of Winchester began on May 23 and lasted five days. The verdict may not be known immediately, and Rev. Dr. Sizer is prohibited from commenting on the process until deliberations are complete. But Mick Napier of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign provided an enlightening series of daily reports on his Facebook page which can be viewed here.

We signed on to two other late May letters initiated by Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). The first endorsed their renewed campaign entitled FIFA: Suspend Israeli Apartheid. With the Football (Soccer) World Cup scheduled to be played later this year in Qatar, the attention of much of the world will be drawn to the matches. But as the campaign asserts, FIFA is not following its own rules when the Israel Football League (IFL) is concerned. Specifically, IFL matches are a venue for blatantly racist chants (e.g., “Death to Arabs”) and anti-Arab violence. The IFL also allows players and clubs from illegal Israeli settlements to play. At the same time, Israel restricts travel by players and coaches between Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. Israeli officials also refuse permits to build stadiums and training facilities, fail to release sports equipment from customs, arrest players and tear gas sports events. During the struggle in South Africa, the boycott of rugby proved influential in bringing the Apartheid practices to an end. If you would like to sign FOSNA’s message to FIFA, you can begin by endorsing the campaign here.

The second FOSNA letter we recently endorsed calls on President Biden to raise the issue of access to holy sites in Jerusalem and other locations in Israel and the West Bank. This year, tensions ran high as the observance of Passover occurred at the start of Orthodox Holy Week and the end of Ramadan. Beatings, tear gas and rubber bullets marred Muslim prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque when municipal police escorted Jewish worshippers around the Temple Mount. Christian leaders also protested when strict attendance limits were placed on the number of people who could participate in traditional Easter services. Use the link above if you would also like to sign the letter before the President’s trip to Israel later this month. 

EPF PJN has also used the opportunity provided by the Episcopal News Service (ENS) to publish Press Releases which we can then highlight in PJN on the Go! and our Facebook page as we did twice recently. In mid May the ENS published our press release concerning the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh outside the Jenin Refugee Camp and the intimidation and violence of the Jerusalem police as her body was being carried to the church for her funeral. In late May ENS also published a PJN press release that was critical of the House of Bishops Pastoral Letter on the Holy City of Jerusalem. While we have not sought endorsements from other denominational PJNs, the Releases have been shared by email to wider audiences, 

Of course, not every month offers as many endorsement opportunities as have occurred recently, but we will continue to respond to opportunities which come to us, and share them with you here and on our Facebook page.

Thanks to EPF PJN members Randy Heyn–Lamb and Priscilla Read for keeping up with out endorsements and writing and editing this report.

Thanks to EPF PIN member Lynn W. Huber for this report.

We Are Not Numbers (WANN) is an international organization which matches up professional, published English writers with Gazan youth interested in writing in English themselves. 

Having been to Palestine twice, and having done writing and teaching about the ever-increasing horrors of life there, the moment I learned about the organization, I volunteered. 

The staff interview potential mentors and orient us fully as to what is expected. I have found it an exciting and growth-producing experience, handled in a professional and engaging way.

An irony is that were I physically present in Israel/Palestine I would not even be able to enter Gaza—which is for all intents and purposes held hostage by the Israeli government. But with this program I can do something! I can both learn and teach, and even make a slight positive difference in the isolation of Gazans. And with the blessing of ZOOM I can see and hear my mentées face to face.

One of them, Alalami Hassan (who gave me permission to use his name), is a medical student, and was my first mentée. He wrote a fascinating essay on (of all things) donkey carts. They are used for many purposes, in part necessitated by the partial blockade on gasoline imposed by Israel. Photos and incidents from his essay (not to mention a whole lot more he taught me during our sessions) almost made me feel as if I had actually been there.

Our relationship began during the last bombing war against Gaza, and our calls were often interrupted by the electricity being cut off. It surely gave me a close-up sense of what Gazans were enduring. And I was on line with my friend when part of a building next door to him was blown away, and the resulting rubble covered a group of children caught in the crush.

It is so easy for us to sit in our termperature-controlled, bomb-free homes, read a headline, say a compassionate “tsk, tsk”, and flip the page. Being present, even in this strange way, made it come alive for me and be utterly real.

If you are intrigued to know more (and perhaps even to volunteer for the program), have a peek at some of the essays on the WANN website and contact them there.

Last Friday, the Legislative Committee on Social Justice and International Policy met via Zoom to receive testimony for a second time. Six resolutions concerning Palestine/Israel were on the agenda. Two diocesan resolutions ask General Convention members to reject Christian Zionism, while three others ask the Church to name Israel’s rule over Palestinians as a form of apartheid.

The remaining resolution, C001, Regarding Anti-Semitism and Palestinian Christians, submitted by three priests from the Diocese of Maryland, asks the Church to acknowledge our 2018 General Convention actions about Israel are perceived as antisemitic in the Jewish community. The resolution further asks the American Church to defer to the judgment of the Episcopal Archbishop in Jerusalem before addressing matters regarding Israel and Palestine.

With more than 50 persons registered to testify to the six resolutions, the Committee limited testimony to two minutes in length. The Committee had allowed three minutes during the previous round of testimonies. 

One author of C001 registered to testify in favor of the resolution. His testimony was followed by nine opposition speakers from the dioceses of California, Chicago, East Tennessee, Los Angeles, Olympia, Vermont, and West Texas. Jewish allies, including two rabbis, a university professor and a JVP activist offered additional testimony opposing the resolution. The Reverend Leyla King and Dr. Jonathan Kuttab of FOSNA shared their concerns as Palestinian Americans that this resolution would reinforce the ongoing suppression of Palestinian concerns in our Church. 

Several EPF-PIN friends complained of the vague antisemitism accusations and the absence of evidence that the archbishop or any interfaith relationships had been harmed by our Convention deliberations. Our Jewish friends argued that criticism of unjust Israeli laws or actions should not be considered antisemitic and pointed out that not all Jews share the opinions expressed in the resolution.  Episcopalians bristled at the irresponsibility of surrendering our right to speak to matters where our government, tax dollars and investments are involved. Some questioned whether the archbishop would prefer or need to limit his public statements, while others doubted he would want responsibility for decisions by the U.S. Church. A few questioned the assumption that the archbishop was unaware of our resolutions.

With no questions or comments coming from Committee 07 members, the hearing continued with testimony about C012, Confronting Christian Zionism submitted by the Chicago Diocese. Testimony on C040, On Confronting Christian Zionism from the Diocese of Washington (DC) came later. Both resolutions reject Christian Zionism as a nationalistic theology which influences U.S. policy on Palestine/Israel in ways which support Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank and the consequent displacement of Palestinians. 

Chicago’s Resolution C012 also included a section which noted the ways in which the liturgy, including the lectionary, prayers and hymns may add to parishioners’ confusion between Biblical Israel and the Israelites with present-day Israel and Israelis, and unintentionally reinforces the deceptive theology of Christian Zionism. In response, the authors asked that “the Episcopal Church commit to making clear in liturgy and in teaching the clear distinction between the current political situation and the Biblical past.”

A similar number of opponents to these resolutions registered to testify, including several who identified themselves as educators and the President of the Shalom Hartman Institute. Their opposition centered more on the impact of the resolutions on interfaith relationships than supporting Christian Zionist theology. Several lay Episcopal opponents argued that because they were Christians and supported Jews returning to Israel, they must be Christian Zionists. It seems clear that additional education is needed. Here is a brief overview of our opposition to Christian Zionism:

Christian Zionism grew out of 19^th Century dispensational theology¹ and is popular today among many evangelical churches.  Applying a literal Biblical interpretation, events such as Israel’s capture of Jerusalem in 1967 is seen as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and a herald of Jesus’ imminent return. Taken to its logical conclusion, such a theology ignores, or even calls for, the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population. Conflating Biblical Israel with the modern state, Christian Zionists give direct financial aid to fund Israeli settlement construction, support U.S. military aid, and defend Israel against all criticism. Evangelical Zionists have had easy access to the White House over multiple U.S. administrations. This reached a peak during the Trump years with both VP Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claiming alignment with Christian Zionist views on Israel. In contrast, we would argue that the land was never a divinely given commodity, but remained God’s, whose dwellers were merely “tenants” (Leviticus 25: 23). We would also note that as a matter of history the land always contained non-Jews.

Christian Zionists also ground their position on a particular interpretation of God’s covenant with Abraham. The words of God reported in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you” are taken to mean that unequivocal support for the modern State of Israel is required by God. This is a theology of privilege that “curses” any who might call it to account. Deviation from this understanding of the Abrahamic covenant is labelled as replacement theology (Jewish claims of being chosen replaced by Christian ones) and labeled antisemitic. Again, this view ignores that Abraham was also the father to Ishmael, and the verse continues, “…all people on earth will be blessed by you”.

Unfortunately, another form of Christian Zionism can be found in many mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. Professor Marc Ellis described this phenomenon over 30 years ago as “what one might call the ecumenical deal: eternal repentance for Christian anti-Jewishness [by refusing to make] any substantive criticism of Israel.” Some of the resolutions’ critics seemed to identify with this, preferring that we not criticize Israel’s actions to avoid accusations of antisemitism. They seem to ignore our critique of a biblical interpretation which supports Israel’s expansion into the whole of historic Palestine, with the consequent erasure of Palestinian Muslims and Christians as a divine mandate necessary to the second coming of Christ. This nationalistic (and some would argue antisemitic²) theology also influences U.S. policy toward Israel. President Joe Biden is a practicing Catholic but proudly proclaims his support for Zionism. 

Lastly, the April 8^th hearing turned its attention to resolutions submitted by the Dioceses of Vermont (C025), Chicago (C031), and Washington (C042) which ask General Convention to recognize that Israeli treatment of Palestinians constitutes apartheid under international law³. 

Again, EPF PIN assembled a diverse and intergenerational team of Episcopalians, denominational and interfaith community activists, including Palestinian Americans, African Americans, rabbis and members of Jewish Voice for Peace. Although resolution opponents tried to defend Israel’s record, our witnesses repeatedly pointed to reports by B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as evidence of an Israeli version of apartheid. Supporters also referenced recent comments by the UN Special Rapporteur and the joint report by Addameer/International Human Rights Clinic of Harvard Law School.

They drew special attention to Israel’s 2018 Nation State Law and more than fifty laws which discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel. They described life in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers live under Israeli civil law while indigenous Palestinians are subject to an oppressive military regime, and where Gaza is an open-air prison. They reminded Committee members that Archbishop Desmond Tutu frequently called out Israeli apartheid and how Black Lives Matter activists have connected the struggle for racial equality in the U.S.to the struggle for Palestinian human rights. 

The former director of an NGO in the Occupied Territories recounted arriving at the scene of the home demolition of a family of seven in Hebron: “The Caterpillar was smashing the last of four corners of the home. It collapsed to the screams of the mother…The younger children frantically scrambled to rescue what toys and schoolbooks they could from the rubble…Heavily armed soldiers were killing a sheep and throwing it into the ancient sweet-water well.” 

Episcopal clergy spoke forcefully that “we are called to be truth-tellers,” to name evil, and to advocate for “the restoration of dignity for both the oppressed and oppressor.” One witness quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who reproved church leaders “more devoted to order than to justice.” An EPF-PIN member testified, “As a nurse…, I can say that naming the illness is the first necessary step to curing the patient.”  

Alternating between our supporting arguments, our opponents’ testimonies made predictable claims against the resolutions. Several speakers asserted that the resolutions “would hinder Christian efforts at peacemaking”, though they offered no examples. Some condemned using the word apartheid as inflammatory and alienating, damaging relationships with Jewish neighbors and fueling anti-Jewish prejudice, even comparing a resolution to a “lynch mob against Israel.” Unstated accusations of antisemitism hovered in assertions that the resolutions “de-legitimized” Jewish connections to the land and “demonized” Jews.

Some audaciously disputed the reality of apartheid, as if the presence of Palestinians in the Israeli government somehow negated the systemic discrimination, or that Palestinian “terrorism” justified Israeli denial of basic human rights. There was no acknowledgment of the institutionalized state violence of occupation, the legal discrimination, or that the vast majority of Palestinians lead lives of daily nonviolent resistance. 

In response, three of our group used the hearing occurring just as Easter, Passover, and Ramadan converge to contrast the religious experiences of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Holy Land. One Palestinian explained that his god-sister in Bethlehem had little hope of getting a permit for Easter prayers at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, yet a Jew arriving from anywhere on the globe could immediately receive citizenship. “If this is not apartheid,” he asked, “what is?” Similarly, a young Palestinian-American high school student lamented that her cousins in the West Bank could not join the Palm Sunday procession down the Mount of Olives scheduled two days later. The last speaker, a Chicago rabbi and Israeli Jew, described his memory of Yom Kippur in Israel saying, “a quiet reverence descends on the land. The Israeli army seals off the West Bank, blocking out the Palestinians: out of sight, out of mind.” Whereas, he ruefully continued, his Muslim friend in the West Bank, at first elated to get a permit to attend Ramadan prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, found her joy utterly deflated by omnipresent Israeli soldiers. “This”, he concluded, “is Israel’s religious apartheid.”  

This ended the Committee hearing. No further testimony sessions are planned until General Convention. Deliberations on the testimony already given will continue at 12 noon (EDT) on April 28^th. If you wish to register as an Observer for that or subsequent Committee sessions, you can use this link. 

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¹ Dispensational theology divides world history and the future into several dispensations, or periods of time when God supposedly relates to humans differently. The period from Adam to Noah, or Noah to Abraham are different dispensations. From Abraham to Moses is another, and from Moses to Christ. It should be noted that Dispensational theology also envisions an end-time for the current dispensation with a small percentage of Jews converting to Christianity and the remainder being annihilated.

² The unholy marriage of Christian Zionism and antisemitism can be seen in proponents who, like Lord Balfour, supported the formation of a Jewish State but blocked Russian Jewish refugees from entering Britain. Similarly, some US Christian nationalist groups support the state of Israel as a place for Jews, with the supposed added benefit of hastening the end times.

³ Article II of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid defines it as: “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”  

Episcopalians in the Diocese of Washington voted big against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians on 29 January, adopting resolutions to “oppose Israel’s apartheid” (by 73%), to “confront Christian Zionism” (by 76%), and to “defend the right to boycott” (by 80%), which is under assault from anti-BDS laws enacted in dozens of states and championed in Congress. The latest church action followed the passing of similar resolutions by Episcopalians in the Dioceses of Chicago and Vermont. Resolutions supporting the right to boycott and condemning the ongoing Israeli occupation, segregation, and oppression of the Palestinian people have been passed by the Episcopal Dioceses of Rochester and of Olympia, respectively. All of this is aimed at the denomination’s General Convention in Baltimore in July.

Tom Getman and Sari Ateek are persons who have labored long and hard in their own ways in Palestine advocacy over the years.  They stepped forward at the Diocese of Washington’s annual convention to shepherd two resolutions through to passage.

The legacy and spirit of one of South Africa’s greatest prophets of liberation, Desmond Tutu, inspired the annual convention of women and men who belong to the same Anglican communion of which he was an archbishop. When Tom Getman of St. Mark’s Capitol Hill introduced the anti-apartheid resolution — in effect inviting the convention to cross the Rubicon into fundamental opposition to Israel’s apartheid system — he flashed back to the day in 1980 when the then “little-known African leader” showed up unannounced at Getman’s desk in the office of then-Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR). The young aide was instantly entranced by Tutu’s soon-to-be-famous joyful if burning rhetoric of holy liberation. 

A decade of South African liberation struggle later, Getman recounted, during which he had helped his senator fight against apartheid, “the Arch,” as he was known, suddenly turned the young man in a new direction, telling him, “If you really want to prove your human rights bona fides, you must turn your eyes to the Palestinians.” After three decades of solidarity work, including humanitarian and human rights work in Israel-Palestine and constant efforts to awaken his fellow Christians, the moment had finally come, Getman said, when Tutu’s Church also had to turn its eyes to Palestine and, in Tutu’s words, “liberate the Israelis themselves, as well as the Palestinians, from the traumatic burden of apartheid.”

Moments later, the convention adopted the resolution Getman presented, which “condemns Israel’s apartheid system as antithetical to the Gospel message and to our Baptismal Covenant to ‘strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being” and goes on to recognize “the complicity of the U.S. government in supporting and protecting Israel in its apartheid practices against the Palestinians, deems that support antithetical to America’s fundamental values, and calls on the President and Congress to condemn and oppose Israel’s apartheid [including by halting military aid to Israel.]”

Further evidence that a tipping point has been reached in Palestinians’ long struggle to become politically visible to Americans and have their rights taken seriously came when Rev. Sari Ateek, rector of St. John’s Church Norwood, introduced a resolution “Confronting Christian Zionism.” Ateek, a Palestinian-American, has quietly educated parishioners about his homeland and led several pilgrimages to the Holy Land but had always kept activists at a friendly arm’s length. Thus, his  appearance before the convention as the lead sponsor of one of the resolutions, told the delegates that things are changing. The resolution he presented “rejects the theology of Christian Zionism … [and] condemns the political policy positions promoted by such a theology.”  

When Rev. David Wacaster, rector of Good Shepherd Silver Spring presented the third resolution — which condemns dozens of laws and executive orders around the country that unconstitutionally seek to punish Americans for supporting BDS — the convention waived it through with an 80 percent majority after almost no debate.

What happened at the convention confirms an awakening to Israel’s long-festering human rights problem within the liberal U.S. “elite,” to which the clergy and lay leaders of mainline denominations largely belong. Nonetheless, the solidarity movement still has challenges to overcome before the Churches can rightly be seen as opposing Israel’s apartheid as strongly as they did the apartheid in South Africa.

The breakthrough in DC was of a pattern with similar votes in 2021 in other mainline denominations — such as the Presbyterian Church and the United Church of Christ — which are moving in the same direction.  So, in DC, as elsewhere, debate on the Palestinian solidarity resolutions included the following features:

• No one mounted a defense of Israel’s harsh treatment of the Palestinians as justifiable or unavoidable.
• No one suggested that the resolutions or their proponents are antisemitic.
• No visible interfaith pushback surfaced from Jewish leaders.
• No visible opposition surfaced from the pro-Israel Lobby.
• Proponents strongly asserted that the dismantling of Israel’s apartheid was in fact in the long-term best interest of Israeli Jews, and they avoided expressing stinging, visceral criticism of Israel and its supporters. 
• An evidently greater realism about Israel’s injustice toward Palestinians could not have come mainly from grassroots work by activists to educate their fellow churchgoers, since the activists lacked the personnel or resources to do such work. Thus, the awakening showed how information is getting to the public from other sources, — mainstream, as well as social media – and a growing immunity to disinformation and smears aimed at maintaining the myth of Israel’s innocence.

All these elements are evidence that, at least among a somewhat elite population, the Israel-Palestine conflict has moved from being seen as a national or diplomatic problem of political conflict to being seen as a critical human rights problem. Big gains for Palestinians are further evident in activists’ perfect won-lost record on church resolutions — five wins in five tries in the Episcopal Church, for example.

Texts of the resolutions can be found at these links:

Confronting Christian Zionism

Opposing Israel’s Apartheid

Defending the Right to Boycott

Thanks to EPF PJN member Steve France for his reporting.