Check out the June 2007 full report or the summary, both by the Divestment Task Force of the United Methodist Church. Told you the BDS movement is picking up!
Excerpts (from summary):
The urgency of the humanitarian crisis in the occupied Palestinian territories cannot be overstated. Palestinians face soaring unemployment, malnutrition, restrictions on movement, denial of medical care, denial of access to their agricultural lands, humiliation at checkpoints, and extended lockdowns called curfews. More than 4 million Palestinian refugees live in poverty, while Israelis live in their homes and on their lands. Palestinians continue to alternate between often futile non-violent protest and unacceptable violent attacks on Israelis. Israeli soldiers have repeatedly fired on non-violent protesters, killing and wounding not only Palestinians, but international peace activists – including Americans – who have stood with them. In addition, volunteers with the Christian Peacemaker Teams in the West Bank have been attacked by Israeli settlers while escorting Palestinian children to school. Settlers have been involved in many acts of violence against Palestinians.
United Methodists Called to Action
Our Christian faith calls us to reject violence of any kind, and to reject acts of aggression that provoke violence. As United Methodists, we are committed to work for justice, and to refuse to be complacent in the face of such monumental human suffering. We are also called to support other members of the Body of Christ around the world.
In 2005, the New England Annual Conference passed Resolution 204 with regard to divestment from companies supporting the Israeli occupation.
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ALLIANT TECH SYSTEMS (NYSE:ATK) is engaged with an Israeli company in the production of rubber-coated bullets. Such bullets are frequently used against Palestinians, as well as Israeli and international peace activists engaged in peaceful demonstrations to protest Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land. Rubber bullets often blind, disfigure or kill those who are hit by them. Alliant is also engaged in other contracts that support the Israeli military, which enforces the occupation. The company produces fuses for cluster bombs and Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
BLOCKBUSTER (NYSE:BBI) has kiosks in illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land. These settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Companies providing services to these settlements, which violate international law, contribute to their growth and appeal for Israelis. They make it harder to withdraw Israelis from the occupied territories, an essential step for any lasting peace agreement with Palestinians.
BOEING (NYSE:BA) has been a major supplier of the F-15 Eagle and the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter to Israel. These aircraft have been used to attack Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, resulting in many civilian casualties. Boeing makes missile systems, F-15 software, Apache Helicopters, and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), a guided air-to-surface weapon.
CATERPILLAR (NYSE:CAT) supplies bulldozers to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The IDF uses these to destroy Palestinian homes, orchards and olive groves in the Occupied Territories. They are also used to clear Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlements, segregated roads and the “Separation Barrier.” Despite years of corporate engagement by investors, Caterpillar is expanding its role in the occupation, recently announcing a joint venture with InRobTech to develop unmanned remote-controlled bulldozers for Israel.
CEMENT ROADSTONE HOLDINGS (CRH) (NYSE: CRH) is an Ireland-based multinational. CRH benefits from a monopoly on cement production within Israel through its 25% holding in the Israeli group Mashav Initiating and Development Ltd., which is the holding company for Nesher Cement. Nesher claims on its web site to be Israel’s sole producer of cement. Cement is being used in the construction of the Separation Wall inside the West Bank, which the International Court of Justice has ruled illegal. Cement is also used to build settlements on Palestinian land.
GENERAL DYNAMICS (NYSE:GD) Land Systems in the USA manufactures the GD 883 diesel engine for Israel’s Merkava 4 battle tanks. It has supplied about 1,000 M60A3 Main Battle Tanks to Israel. These tanks are frequently used against Palestinians in the occupied territories. It also produces equipment used on the F16 Fighting Falcon Jets sold to Israel. General Dynamics will be the general contractor for the production of 3,500 MK-84 “general purpose” bombs, spares and repair parts for Israel in a sale proposed by the Pentagon in April, 2007.
GENERAL ELECTRIC (NYSE:GE) supplies the propulsion system for Israel’s AH-64 Apache Assault Helicopter, which is used in Israeli attacks on Palestinian towns. It also possesses contracts with Israel to sell engines for a variety of military aircraft. In addition, GE possesses several Israeli service contracts for engineering support and testing.
GLOBECOMM SYSTEMS INC (GSI) (New York) (NASDAQ: GCOM) in partnership with Tadiran Spectralink of the Elisra Group (Israel), has a contract to supply the IDF with equipment and facilities for communication between all branches of the IDF ground forces. The system includes mobile stations installed on HMMWV vehicles. These vehicles are used by the IDF in the occupied territories.
ITT CORPORATION (NYSE:ITT) provides the Israeli Defense Forces with intensifier tubes for night vision goggles and has previously provided battlefield communication radios. Night vision goggles are used by pilots, co-pilots and crews of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft, especially helicopter crews. They enable Israel to attack refugee camps and villages in the middle of the night, the time when many of these raids and assaults take place. Battlefield communication radios allow the military to communicate with troops over a secure channel.
LOCKHEED MARTIN (NYSE:LMT) is the single biggest overseas supplier for the Israeli armaments industry. It has received at least $4.4 billion since 1995 for supplying arms, including missile systems and fighter planes, to Israel. It has many ongoing contracts, including manufacturing F-16I fighter bombers used by the IDF against Palestinians. Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control in Orlando, Florida produces the Hellfire missile system for Apache attack helicopters used by Israel against Palestinians. According to a military trade publication, Israel’s main battle tank, the Merkava MK-4 is produced by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works Group.
MAGAL SECURITY SYSTEMS (NASDAQ:MAGS) is an Israeli company that is providing intrusion detection fencing for the separation wall. It is listed in a government of Israel web site as one of the contractors engaged in the construction of the wall.
MOTOROLA (NYSE:MOT) is engaged in a 400 million NIS ($93 million) project to provide radar systems for enhancing security at illegal West Bank settlements deep inside Palestinian territory. Motorola also has a $90-million contract to provide the Israeli army with an advanced “Mountain Rose” cell phone communications system. Its wholly owned subsidiary in Israel has a contract to develop encrypted wireless communications featuring vehicle-mounted antenna that will enable military use in the occupied territories and other remote areas. Motorola has operations in the Jordan Valley on occupied land.
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vicandsade said
This goes into titles of books with the least or no pages in them-
“How Many Jewish places of Worship are there in the “Occupied Territories?”
“How many Jews Live in the “Occupied Territories?”
Here’s one that will use up a lot of ink: The Names of all the non Jews and the number of places of worship that are not Jewish in Israel.
_ So while you are boycotting companies doing business with Israel, perhaps you can send in a team to build a synagogue in Gaza. Good Luck!!
A very small voice said
You people be warned.
God will remember Jacob. He will look to him with compassion.
Where is the land of the Jews?
What a double standard you have, while you sit peacefully in your own country how dare you tell Jews they can not have their own land!
You and I both know that God gave that land to the Jews.
Arabs OCCUPY North Africa- The land of the Berbers and many other peoples (And they have had political control to the detriment of Berbers and other minorities for a long time)
Is it not enough for Arab tribes to have land from Morocco to Sudan to Somalia to UAE to Syria- Is it not enough?
Can not the Jews live in this tiny piece of land?
I do not agree with every thing that every single solider has done in the IDF, by no means. but look at the whole picture.
If you stand against Israel- You will find yourself standing against God.
For He has not forgotten the descendants of Jacob.
They will never cease from being a people before God.
Please tell me,
Where can they go-
Europe- do you remember or have you forgotten what happened in the last century when more than 6 million Jews were killed by the Germans and there allies.
or could they go back to the Middle Eastern countries that many came from-
have you forgotten or maybe you are just completely ignorant of the fact that they were driven from those countries- around 1 million Jewish refugees (a greater number of Jews fled Arab lands than the number of ‘Palestinians Arabs’ who fled ‘Palestine’ yet where is the mention of it).
God hates partiality.
There is not even talk of an apology nor of any compensation
The only talk i hear is ‘God bless hitler’ and ‘push them in the sea’.
On the subject of Refugees-
Palestinian refugees have been left to rot, not by Israelis but by Lebanon and Jordan in disgusting refugee camps, and might I say all the surrounding Arab countries who condemn Israel for their so called mistreatment of ‘Palestinians’ are the true guilty parties who with all their wealth have not given these people homes and necessary means to live.
Consider that.
finally I would like to say with my very small voice-
look who you align yourself with!
Christians are being murdered by hamas, swords of rightiousness, islamic jihad, al askas martyrs brigade, and other groups and the only help the palestinian authority has given has been to ask the Christians for bribes (up to 30,000 dollars) for their protection. Look into the treatment of Christians in these places and see what is going on. God bless their souls.
Also the majority of countries that you stand along side with in your so called ‘just’ boycott are perpetrating systematic persecution of the Christians who live in their lands(barbaric and terrible beyond ones comprehension and widespread)-
and when its not systematic and ordered by the government- the government and civil authorities are just facilitating it by allowing Muslim men to rape Christian children, abduct girls and force them into marriage, murder and assault Christians, etc. without pressing charges against the criminals committing these horrible crimes against God’s people.
This is who you stand with in your boycott.
God bless the persecuted Saints in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, throughout Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, all the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Chechnya, in Central Asia, in the Beautiful Land and the suffering Church throughout all the nations.
I pray too, God Bless the Jews.
Christians, stand with the Descendants of Jacob.
Shalom
Nancy Richman said
I belonged to Fairlington UMC in Arlington, Va. when I lived there. I’ve always had love for the Methodist Church. But now I have neither respect nor love. You say the Church opposes human suffering – one wishes you applied your sense of pity and love to all God’s people and not just those you find politically correct to support.
You have no sympathy for the 8-year-old boy who lost his legs yesterday from a Palestinian bomb sent over from Gaza. Oh but its justified – since peaceful means haven’t worked to rid Israel of the Jews you say. Israel has tried to use peaceful means – they carried off their own people by force from Gaza and gave Gaza to the Palestinians. But Israel has no right to be ‘occupying’ these lands anyway. So why don’t you give your land back to the Native Americans, or the English or the French or Canada or whoever else it was ‘taken’ from?
Why is it so darn bad that they erect security fences to try to keep Palestinian and Israeli adults and children from being blown up? Why on earth have you no sympathy for the parents of Israeli children who have been killed and maimed? Do you understand that Palestinian suicide bombers have entered nursery schools and opened fire on children? Have Israelis done that? What in the name of heaven would you have Israelis do when kassam rockets and mortar shells land on Sderot and Ashkslow in Israel?
Why do you blame Israel for the poverty of some Palestinians? The doctors at Hadassah Hospital treat the Palestinian suicide bombers and Arab victims of these bombings just like they do their Israeli victims. I question now whether you would if you ran that Hospital. You blame Israel for the poor among the Palestinians. What would you have the Israeli Jews do that you do for the poor of the US? Should we boycott you as punishment for the fact that there is poverty in the US? Why when Egypt fired upon Palestinians leaving Gaza did you not find fault? Not politically correct enough for you to criticize a bordering Moslem country?
I lived as a Christian in Jerusalem in 2003-2004. I could visit any Christian site I wanted to visit in Israeli controlled areas. The Palestinians would not allow me to visit the Dome of the Rock, Jericho, or Hebron – areas controlled by the Palestinians. I did visit Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, which was festooned with posters of Palestinian martyrs who had blown themselves up while blowing up Israeli children and old people. There are almost no Christians left in Bethlehem – of course you blame the Israelis but from what I could see they are leaving because of how they are treated by the people who control the city. They are afraid of the Palestinians who control Bethlehem.
What do you have to say to the loved ones of those murdered at the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem, or the school bus loaded with children to Tel Aviv, at the Hebrew University Cafeteria, and the countless killed on public buses? Have you ever scraped the body parts of children, women and men off the street? Where in Heavens name is your sense of outrage?
I lived surrounded by Palestinians in Western Jerusalem. I liked them and I think liked me. Organizations like yours aren’t helping decent Palestinians or the Jews of Israel – you are helping Hamas and shame on you. You say you are supporting other Christian denominations by boycotting Israel. I dont think Id put my faith in what other Christian groups do. Remember the Christian involvement in the Crusades, and Ireland, and American treatment of African Americans and Native and, to be honest, Hitlers Germany. Shame Shame Shame on you.
A Very Sad and Ashamed Christian
Amanda said
You should practice what you preach and find love for all of God’s people instead of just the one’s you support politically as well. How is it you have no sympathy for the Palestinians who lose their homes because some greedy Jew decides they want it and if they try to fight for their home they are killed? How is it you have no sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were there long before the Jews yet are treated worse then most people treat a stray dog? Oh wait, that’s right, that land was unoccupied even though it had a large population. So of course since it was unoccupied the Jews have nothing to be held accountable for. Not for killing, maiming, robbing and terrorizing innocent Muslims and Christians in Palestine. Of course it is only the Palestinian’s fault when they are pushed to a point that they feel they have no other option but to kill themselves and others in the process. To be quite honest I’d do the same to protect my family and my home.
This is what’s wrong with Christians. They see only what they want to see and turn a blind eye to the truth. As a Christian you are supposed to live your life by Jesus’ example but do Christian’s do this? No. Even something as simple as not eating pork cannot be followed by the Christian faith and covering your head for prayer. You’d rather believe the delirous dream of a starving man then to follow the example that was set before you. Christians have a wonderful habit of picking and choosing what part of the Bible to believe. Christians on a whole have no tolerance nor forgiveness for anything not Christian, I don’t think that was the example given to you either. Before you start critcizing another denomination of Christians for trying to right a wrong take a look in the mirror. After all isn’t it somewhere in your Bible that those without sin should cast the first stone?
The Christian involvement in all of the things you listed was greed plain and simple, just like their involvement and support in Iraq currently is. So yes shame shame shame on the Christians.
Luckily God and God alone is my judge and not a Christian for I’d be condemed to hell for all eternity if they were.
dreamsend said
Why is it okay for the UMC to invest in companies that manufacture the bombs and weapons which kill Iraqis? Why are they still invested in Halliburton, which made 8 billion dollars from the Iraq war in 2003 alone? Why is it okay for them to invest in the huge oil companies who have been re-arranging borders in the Middle East and overthrowing governments for decades to better suit their bottom line? Why is it okay to invest in big agribusiness which destroy small farms and support oppressive governments in Latin America? The list of proposed divestments is a complete mockery of the Christian message. If you want to divest, divest from all companies who profit from war.
http://dreamsendweb.com/2008/02/18/methodist-church-why-are-those-jews-in-our-holy-land/