More great news for BDS. 400 delegates at the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ (CTUCC), representing 240 churches and 97,000 members throughout the state of Connecticut, voted to divest from all companies “profiting from the occupation of the Palestine Territories by the State of Israel” at their 147th annual statewide conference on Friday.
The Hartford Courant:
Connecticut Conference Of UCC Votes In Support Of Palestinians
The resolution, submitted by the board of deacons of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, also contained a provision urging individual church members to boycott Israeli products made in the “occupied Palestinian territories.”……
The divestiture resolution states: “Past General Synods have identified the Israeli Occupation of Palestinian land and its human rights abuses committed therein to be a major source of conflict and have called for the end of construction and expansion of settlements,” and that “Palestinians in the West Bank have lived since 1967 under Israel military occupation which subjects them to many human rights abuses.”
It calls for “the Connecticut Conference to divest any Consolidated Trust Fund holdings in companies profiting from the occupation of the Palestinian Territories by the state of Israel,” listing Caterpillar Inc., Motorola Solutions, Hewlett-Packard Development and several other companies as examples of those that would be affected by the action.
The resolution calling for a boycott of Israeli companies listed Ahava skin care products, SodaStream products and Hadiklaim dates.
More from the Courant in the lead up to the convention :
Steven Jungkeit, senior minister of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, acknowledged Thursday that the resolution would be controversial, but said that his congregation proposed it after members made numerous trips to Israel and Palestine through the years.
“We believe it’s the right thing to do,” Jungkeit said. “It’s a tricky issue to talk about, but I think that it’s one that we need to raise our voices on.”
The Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ is one of 39 regional conferences in the U.S. that makes up the 1.5 million-member United Church of Christ.
It’s spreading.
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thank goodness
i hope this is just the starting point for the U.C.C.
there is alot more they can do to help
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G-d Bless
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Another step in the right direction. It’s great to see that people are waking up.
meh … meh … antisemitism, antisemitsm … meh … meh … the sheep will go nuts.
Good news for a change! A small step, but in the right direction.
I think I will send Sen. Mark Kirk, a member of the United Church of Christ, a note congratulating his church for being on the right side of history and encourage him to show his support by boycotting “Israeli products made in the occupied Palestinian territories.” Let’s see how this goes.