The Episcopal Church of Vermont stood up loudly against Israel’s U.S.-backed oppression of the Palestinians, Nov. 4, as its annual convention, condemning by an 89-25 majority what it said are the Jewish State’s apartheid policies.
The action added to a barrage of condemnations of Israel’s apartheid regime since January by human rights groups and leaders and is of special significance to other Episcopal dioceses – and beyond that to other mainline church denominations — that are under rising pressure from members pressing for similar condemnations. The first major denomination to conclude that it was compelled to call out Israel and its U.S. sponsors on apartheid and a host of related injustices – the United Church of Christ — acted only last July but its resolution was seen then as a harbinger of actions to come from sister denominations.
Vermont, of course, has seen a lot of protest against Israel this year, as Ben & Jerry’s ice cream acted in July to pull its products from Jewish-only settlements on the West Bank next year, and the Burlington City Council in September seriously entertained a resolution of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s apartheid (although the resolution was withdrawn for further action in a later session).
The lopsided win in the Vermont Episcopalians’ annual “diocesan convention” was the more remarkable because supporters of justice for Palestinians were not able to mount an extensive campaign, in part because Covid restrictions meant all but the top leaders and staff had to participate by virtual streaming. Rev. Craig Smith, who presented the resolution, said the 30-minute debate was not very contentious and he was pleasantly surprised when a few delegates who unknown to him had lived in Israel-Palestine gave their eye-witness approval to the description of the situation being one of apartheid.
The openness of the other delegates seemed also to show that general awareness of public protests against Israel is rapidly growing despite continued unquestioning support for Israel on the part of most U.S. politicians, media and business groups.
One blistering message of protest that Smith conveyed to the members of the convention came from Vermonter Wafic Faour, who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon, where much of his family remains. Faour told the story of aunts and uncles who had stayed in their homeland and became Arab citizens of Israel. Israeli apartheid “affects every facet and function of daily living,” he wrote in a statement, and was irrevocably codified by Jewish Israelis in the 2018 Nation State Law. Getting more specific he wrote:
“My family’s land in Shaab, in western Galilee, was confiscated in 1948 by the Israelis, after they murdered my mother’s father. Since the 1950s the fresh water in Shaab has been siphoned off to provide water in three Jewish-only settlements in the nearby hills which were once all Palestinian lands. The villagers in Shaab have been given the filtered sewer water from the settlements to use, and it is now illegal to access the fresh water. Villagers in Shaab report that their water often runs yellow and brown.”
The Vermonters and their fellow Episcopalians, as well as activists in other mainline denominations, will soon be able to measure the impact of this breakthrough. On Nov. 20, the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago will take up a similar anti-Apartheid resolution. In January in Washington, D.C., the Episcopal Diocese of Washington will do likewise, voting in addition on a resolution condemning Christian Zionism and one defending free speech and the right to boycott. Other dioceses may also vote on resolutions expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and condemning the United States’ massive complicity in Israel’s crimes.
In July 2022, the stakes will increase sharply when the Episcopal Church gathers in its U.S.-wide General Convention in Baltimore. There church leaders will be obliged to vote yes or no on Vermont’s, and likely others’ resolutions in support of Palestinian liberation. Voting yes might risk serious retaliation and charges of antisemitism, but voting no would be to risk complicity in very serious crimes.
The Israeli people have a right to defend themselves, as do all people. They do not have a right to be predators, and they do not have a right to label their predatory actions as “self defense”. Further, apartheid laws and practices do not have a “right to exist”. Kudos to these Episcopalians for standing up for plain, old fashioned justice.
Methodists, Presbyterians and Evangelical Lutherans have supported Palestinian rights for years, including support for Kairos Palestine: https://kairospalestine.ps/index.php/resources/statements
“Voting yes might risk serious retaliation and charges of antisemitism, ” Being charged with “antisemitism” has become laughable, sometimes a badge of honor. Besides, there really is no such thing as an “anti-Semite.” There are bigots, and judeophobes but anti-Semite was a made up Zionist expression from the off term “Semite” to refer to Jews of Europe — a term coined by Wilhelm Marr, a publicist of the time and Judeophobe par excellence of the day. Why Zionist adopted his language remains a mystery.
Whether you belong to a religious entity, a human rights group, or simply a decent human being, you cannot just ignore what has been happening in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, and not feel sympathy or compassion for the people. Surely when the media printed the pictures of the dozens of little babies who were brutally killed in May, (some while sleeping), you have to be hard hearted to justify what a well armed occupier keeps doing throughout the years, the stealing of lands, the killing of unarmed civilians some who protest their pain and suffering, and think it is okay. Israel and its apologists have spun this tale of being victims of rockets and stones (not mentioning their deadly weapons used in return), and call these people “terrorists” to justify these massacres. If the occupation and war crimes ended Hamas has no reason to send rockets.
Israel needs Hamas to keep the brutal occupation going.
If our Presidents and Congress cannot stand up for human rights and justice, maybe these religious Institutions must speak up. The evil has been going on for far too long.
I’ll forward this to the retired Anglican archbishop of Toronto. I think he’ll find it interesting.