Globe: The shame of the United Church
Post
Thursday June 29 2006, Globe and Mail, Margaret Wente, The shame of the United Church
Rev. Frances Combs is a slight, polite, soft-spoken woman with snow-white hair and sensible shoes. You can tell she wouldn't hurt a fly. Too bad that such a nice lady has become an apologist for Hamas.
Rev. Combs, a minister with the United Church, co-chairs the Task Group for Ethical Investment in the Middle East. Yesterday this group, which represents around 300 congregations in Ontario, held a press conference to announce that they stand in solidarity with Sid Ryan to bring the rogue state of Israel to heel.
"We are very pleased to commend CUPE Ontario for advocating economic pressure to end the illegal occupation of Palestine," she said. They're calling on church members to boycott goods and dump stock. Don't buy GE light bulbs, because GE is a war profiteer. They also want Ottawa to demand identifying labels on all goods imported from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
But wait, I asked. If the United Church believes in peace and nonviolence, then what does it have to say about Hamas, whose goal is to extinguish the Jewish state?
In answer to my question, I got an impassioned harangue from Judith Wiseman (yes, she's Jewish), another member of the church's task group. "The questions you are asking can only be asked by someone who refuses to see what's going on," she lectured me. "It's time to condemn Israel as a rogue state."
There'd be something risible about this, if it weren't so appalling. The United Church is the largest Protestant denomination in Canada. Three million Canadians claim it as their religious affiliation. And now, the church has joined the shabby parade of left-wing extremists bent on demonizing Israel as the root cause of all the problems in the Middle East. These groups include the largest teachers union in Britain, which, to the disgust of many of its members, has voted to boycott Israeli academics and universities that don't dissociate themselves from the government's "apartheid" policies.
Apartheid is a favourite word among this crowd. It evokes the glory days of Nelson Mandela and the boycotts against South Africa. "The South African apartheid regime never engaged in the kind of repression the Israelis exert against the Palestinians," said Richard Lee, a U of T professor who showed up at the press conference. He didn't mention Israeli-Arabs who make up about a fifth of Israel's population, ride on the same buses, shop in the same malls, vote in the same elections, get blown up by the same bombs, and are stitched back together in the same hospitals.
The Palestinians lead a miserable life, that's for sure. But they have rejected negotiating their own state time after time. And the only conditions that would satisfy CUPE and the United Church are the same ones demanded by Hamas. Israel must abandon all its settlements and let all the descendants of the displaced Palestinians return to reclaim their ancestral lands. That, of course, would mean the end of Israel.
Last year the Israelis came to the conclusion that the settlements in Gaza were, indeed, a bad idea. So they withdrew. In return, the Palestinians elected Hamas and fired a thousand Qassam rockets at Israeli border towns. This too, I learned, is all Israel's fault. One very angry woman, from the Jewish Women's Committee to End the Occupation, denounced "the Jewish lobby, but I guess I'm not supposed to say that" for their efforts to brainwash the Canadian public. She also denounced the Canadian government for siding with Israel. Obviously, demonizing Israel is a thoroughly ecumenical affair.
This August the national body of the United Church will meet to vote on a motion condemning Israel. Rev. Combs is optimistic that might include a boycott. To educate congregants, her group plans to hold as many workshops and information sessions as they can.
Meantime, thousands of CUPE members, of all denominations, are outraged at Sid Ryan and their Ontario local (the largest in the land). Perhaps the United Churchgoers of Canada will be outraged at their leaders too. Perhaps they'll decide that instead of boycotting Israel, they should boycott their own church. One can only hope.
Rev. Frances Combs is a slight, polite, soft-spoken woman with snow-white hair and sensible shoes. You can tell she wouldn't hurt a fly. Too bad that such a nice lady has become an apologist for Hamas.
Rev. Combs, a minister with the United Church, co-chairs the Task Group for Ethical Investment in the Middle East. Yesterday this group, which represents around 300 congregations in Ontario, held a press conference to announce that they stand in solidarity with Sid Ryan to bring the rogue state of Israel to heel.
"We are very pleased to commend CUPE Ontario for advocating economic pressure to end the illegal occupation of Palestine," she said. They're calling on church members to boycott goods and dump stock. Don't buy GE light bulbs, because GE is a war profiteer. They also want Ottawa to demand identifying labels on all goods imported from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
But wait, I asked. If the United Church believes in peace and nonviolence, then what does it have to say about Hamas, whose goal is to extinguish the Jewish state?
In answer to my question, I got an impassioned harangue from Judith Wiseman (yes, she's Jewish), another member of the church's task group. "The questions you are asking can only be asked by someone who refuses to see what's going on," she lectured me. "It's time to condemn Israel as a rogue state."
There'd be something risible about this, if it weren't so appalling. The United Church is the largest Protestant denomination in Canada. Three million Canadians claim it as their religious affiliation. And now, the church has joined the shabby parade of left-wing extremists bent on demonizing Israel as the root cause of all the problems in the Middle East. These groups include the largest teachers union in Britain, which, to the disgust of many of its members, has voted to boycott Israeli academics and universities that don't dissociate themselves from the government's "apartheid" policies.
Apartheid is a favourite word among this crowd. It evokes the glory days of Nelson Mandela and the boycotts against South Africa. "The South African apartheid regime never engaged in the kind of repression the Israelis exert against the Palestinians," said Richard Lee, a U of T professor who showed up at the press conference. He didn't mention Israeli-Arabs who make up about a fifth of Israel's population, ride on the same buses, shop in the same malls, vote in the same elections, get blown up by the same bombs, and are stitched back together in the same hospitals.
The Palestinians lead a miserable life, that's for sure. But they have rejected negotiating their own state time after time. And the only conditions that would satisfy CUPE and the United Church are the same ones demanded by Hamas. Israel must abandon all its settlements and let all the descendants of the displaced Palestinians return to reclaim their ancestral lands. That, of course, would mean the end of Israel.
Last year the Israelis came to the conclusion that the settlements in Gaza were, indeed, a bad idea. So they withdrew. In return, the Palestinians elected Hamas and fired a thousand Qassam rockets at Israeli border towns. This too, I learned, is all Israel's fault. One very angry woman, from the Jewish Women's Committee to End the Occupation, denounced "the Jewish lobby, but I guess I'm not supposed to say that" for their efforts to brainwash the Canadian public. She also denounced the Canadian government for siding with Israel. Obviously, demonizing Israel is a thoroughly ecumenical affair.
This August the national body of the United Church will meet to vote on a motion condemning Israel. Rev. Combs is optimistic that might include a boycott. To educate congregants, her group plans to hold as many workshops and information sessions as they can.
Meantime, thousands of CUPE members, of all denominations, are outraged at Sid Ryan and their Ontario local (the largest in the land). Perhaps the United Churchgoers of Canada will be outraged at their leaders too. Perhaps they'll decide that instead of boycotting Israel, they should boycott their own church. One can only hope.
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