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Narrow BDS Defeat Nothing to Celebrate
(Commentary) Jonathan S. Tobin - By the narrowest of margins, 333-331, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA defeated a resolution calling for divestment from companies that do business with Israel's security forces. The narrow margin is a virtual guarantee that divestment advocates will be back next year at the Presbyterian conclave as well as other gatherings of mainline Protestant groups. A narrow majority of Presbyterian delegates still understands that a vote for such a resolution involves the church in what amounts to an economic war against the Jewish state and a potential break in relations with American Jews. Motorola and Hewlett-Packard produce devices that help the Israel Defense Forces monitor security checkpoints for terrorist explosives and other dangers. Caterpillar vehicles help construct Israel's defense barrier that keeps out suicide bombers as well as demolish structures that shield terrorist activities. This divestment resolution amounts to an endorsement of the actions of Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank that Israeli security forces seek to prevent. Far from being a neutral sentiment aimed at conveying sympathy for oppressed Palestinians, such a divestment vote would have been a declaration that a major American church group thinks Israel doesn't have the right to defend itself against terrorism. That American Christians who profess to care about human rights would stand aloof from the dozens of other conflicts around the world where humanitarian catastrophes exist while concentrating their energy on trying to punish Israel is a shocking statement of their bias. Those who judge the Jewish state differently from other nations are engaging in a form of prejudice that is indistinguishable from anti-Semitism. This close call is nothing to celebrate. The vote is an ominous portent of the shift among liberal Protestants against Israel and in favor of an anti-Semitic war on the Jewish state. The fight against divestment is just beginning.