Caterpillar bulldozer, occupied territories
The Presbyterian committee on the Middle East has voted overwhelmingly in favor of divesting from three companies whose products are used by the Israeli military.
The vote this morning, with 36 in favor, 11 against and 1 abstention, is a boon to divestment activists who hope that the full Presbyterian general assembly will vote to divest. It removes the last barrier to a full plenary vote, which is set for Thursday or Friday of this week.
Here’s the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian church statement on the vote:
The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is pleased to announce that today Committee 15 of the 220th General Assembly voted in favor of Resolution 15-11, which calls for divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions, over Israel’s use of their products in violations of Palestinian human rights. In voting to support divestment, committee members also recommended that the church reinvest divested funds into companies engaging in peaceful pursuits in Israel and Palestine.
“This is an encouraging step,” said Rev. Dr. Walt Davis, IPMN Education Co-Chair. “We hope plenary voters will follow the lead of Committee 15 and the recommendations of the Mission Responsibility Through Investing committee and support divestment from these companies that are profiting from Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights. It’s been a long and thorough process and it’s finally time for the church to stop profiting from the suffering the peoples of the Holy Land.”
You can read the resolution here.
Caterpillar makes bulldozers that are outfitted by the Israeli military and used to destroy Palestinian homes. The corporation suffered a blow after the pension fund TIAA-CREF divested some holdings in the company last month following a decision by MSCI, a Wall Street investment service firm, to take Caterpillar off its index of “socially responsible” companies.
Hewlett-Packard and Motorola are also companies whose products are used to sustain Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank.
The vote came after a marathon session yesterday that featured heated debate over the measure.
The one abstention on the vote came from Ken Page, a Presbyterian commissioner from Florida who went on a Jewish Council for Public Affairs junket to Israel. He recused himself from all votes to avoid charges of bias.
Even before the vote, Israel lobbyists were fretting about the chances that the divestment resolution had. It appears their nervousness was justified.
Jewish Voice for Peace has a petition up encouraging Presbyterians to “vote your conscience on divestment from corporations profiting from the Occupation.” Sign it here.
The usual suspects can drag out their threadbare arguments for the nth time. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that the realisation of the true nature of the Israeli occupation and its continuing vicious campaign against human rights for Palestinians is spreading across the board. The propagandists can jump up and down as much as they like, issue implicit threats, smear people, all the usual hoopla, but it won’t stop the dissemination of truth, and than means millions of more horrified people, who have a conscience, and will not to be told what to think by the army of toy soldiers that Israel employs.
This is great news, and coming after other BDS victories I cannot help but feel encouraged. This looks like it’s going a lot differently from the Methodist proposal, I choose to see that as a good sign. Companies profiting from all the suffering Israel is pouring out on millions of Palestinians should answer for their actions and pay consequences for the choices they make in benefiting off of Apartheid and Occupation.
Those who have turned against Jews and Israel have brought demise upon themselves. There are many such cases in history, including the Nazi’s.
When things get financially tough within the Presbyterian Church, the long knives will come out and inner bickering will be the order of the day, and they will remind themselves of this vote.
The lines are so unclear Mr. Glatzer, that people will start to boycott Israel because trying to understand the lines will be impossible for some. This then means that Jews who say they care for Israel will be lending a hand delegitimizing the Jewish State. Is this what you want? Some of the damage being caused is not going to be reversible.
I’m not sure it is much of a blow to a company with market cap of over $50 billion that TIAA-CREF sold $72 million worth of their shares at market value (assuming they didn’t just move it from one pocket to the other) TIAA-CREF themselves have $370 million in Caterpillar stock left in other funds.
It’s not like it costs Caterpillar anything to have TIAA-CREF sell some of their stock. Which is actually a couple of point higher now than it was a few days ago.