US Christian Church Leaders' Letter Attracts Attention

Last week at the Kairos Palestine workshop in Denver, we looked at the press release from the ELCA announcing a letter to Congress written by fifteen US Christian church leaders, including ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson. The letter to Congress has stirred up some controversy, especially among some of the leaders in the US Jewish community.  

If you’d like some background:

• Read the letter to Congress written by 15 Christian leaders
• Read the ELCA press release about the letter

Response to the letter from the Jewish Anti-defamation League – calling the letter “outrageous and biased”. While asserting that the letter “fails to also call for an investigation of Palestinian use of U.S. foreign aid,” Abe Foxman seems to ignore the US withholding aid from the Palestinian Authority after elections that brought Hamas to power in 2006. The US frequently withholds aid in protest of Palestinian Authority policies.

Here are two articles written by Jewish leaders expressing support for the Christian leaders’ action

• Mark Braverman’s response – he is an American Jewish supporter of an end to the occupation, who has repeatedly urged US Christians not to violate their principles of justice to support Israel in its current policies
• Some rabbis support the Christian church leaders’ letter

 NYTimes has reported on the letter

 

What you can do: 

• You can thank the church leaders via a petition on the website of End the Occupation.
• Or leave a comment on the Peace Not Walls blog on the ELCA website.