UCC votes to divest from Israeli companies in occupied territories

c. 2015 Religion News Service

(RNS) The nearly 1 million-member United Church of Christ voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to divest from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation and to boycott products of Israeli companies based in the West Bank, a move that follows a divestment vote taken by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) last spring.

The 508–124 vote of the UCC’s General Synod marks a victory for a broad international movement that aims to pressure Israel into extracting itself from Palestinian lands by a strategy known as BDS—Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions—and could foreshadow similar resolutions now being considered by the Episcopal Church, which is holding its General Assembly this week, and Mennonite Church USA, whose convention began yesterday.