The Christian Century

Last summer the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) passed several resolutions that have distressed the American Jewish community. The church criticized Israeli policy toward Palestinians, condemned Israel’s construction of a security barrier, declined to withdraw support for a congregation in Philadelphia which appears to target Jews for conversion and—the move that most angered the Jewish community—voted to consider selective divestment from corporations that do business in Israel.

Some Jews interpreted the action as an attack on Israel—perhaps even an anti-Semitic gesture. Presbyterians have been stunned by the depth of Jewish anger, and how what seems to many like legitimate social witness is experienced as a form of anti-Semitism.