Today we are witness to what can only be described as the unstoppable momentum of church opposition to Israel’s program of discrimination, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing. Together with the BDS call, the Kairos call from Palestinian churches has awakened the global church to the urgency of the Palestinian plight and to the theological imperative to act.

Even a scholar who opposes the label says, “Israel does not have a case against apartheid.” That is the power of the apartheid framing. The label for Israel has gained broad acceptance because of the widening awareness of the death of the Two State Solution — that Israel never really wanted a legitimate, contiguous Palestinian state. Because of American support for Israeli impunity, it may take years for the apartheid name and frame to achieve the result we are hoping for. But at least we now have a tool for organizing and persuasion of great potential potency, if we bang the apartheid drum often and loudly. 

The western leaders who praise Desmond Tutu are ignoring a central legacy. His brief tours of Palestinian communities aching under the weight of Israeli tyranny quickly led him to condemn Israeli apartheid. His understanding of the essence of the Christian message as one that actively sides with the downtrodden drove him to support the Palestinian boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement.

Ainsworth United Church of Christ of Portland, Oregon just pledged to be a Pillsbury-Free-Church in support of Palestinian human rights. Join us!

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. Similar resolutions will soon be considered by other Episcopal dicoeses.

The United Church of Christ resolution abandoning the two-state solution and calling Israel’s continued “oppression” of Palestinians a “sin” that demands action by people of faith has alarmed the American Jewish Committee and for good reason: Other Protestant churches are sure to follow, with measures that pose a real threat to apartheid.

“We reject Israel’s apartheid system of laws and legal procedures,” the United Church of Christ stated at its general synod, in a resolution approved by 83 percent of members despite an appeal by the American Jewish Committee that the resolution should mention “Israel’s relentless pursuit of peace for 73 years.”