Dear Mr. President:

We write this open letter to confirm support within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for statehood for Palestine and hence for the admission of the state of Palestine into membership of the United Nations. We believe the admission of Palestine—currently a permanent observer—into full membership will hasten progress toward the two-state solution affirmed by international law and will contribute to a just peace for both Palestinians and Israelis…

Leaders of four denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, have issued a statement backing the Palestinian Authority’s bid for membership in the United Nations.

NEW YORK — 9/13/11 — In June 2004 the Rev. Dr. Glenn Dickson (honorably retired), then pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Gainesville, Florida drove all night to Richmond, Virginia to testify the next day before the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), its highest governing body, in support of an overture from his congregation requesting that the denomination divest of its holdings in Caterpillar, Inc. 

In a letter dated August 4, 2011, PC(USA) Stated Clerk, The Reverend Gradye Parsons expressed concern to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the Boycott Law recently passed by the Israeli Knesset. In it, Parsons states: “This law deals a severe blow to free speech and the freedoms of opinion and expression. While it does not provide for criminal charges against individuals or groups publicly calling for a boycott against Israel or any area under its control, it allows for civil suits claiming financial damages. This will have a dampening effect on freedom and democracy.”

Imagine for a moment if at the height of apartheid the South African government passed a law that outlawed boycott and divestment in support of oppressed blacks and coloreds in that nation…

Imagine if the Nestle Corporation had succeeded in convincing the Swiss government to allow it to seek reparations from any Church or human rights organization that called for boycott because of the harmful way that company marketed infant formula to poor women in the least developed nations of the world…

Once again, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has waged another shameless attack on concerned Christians who work ceaselessly towards peace and justice in Israel Palestine. This time it comes in response to the release of the Kairos Palestine Document Study Guide that was recently published by a special committee of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.