UNITED CHUCH OF CHRIST VOTES TO USE "ECONOMIC LEVERAGE" AGAINST ISRAEL

United Church of Christ Adopts "Economic Leverage" (Formerly "Divestment") Proposal - Errin Haines
The United Church of Christ voted Tuesday to use "economic leverage" to promote peace between Israel and Palestinians and to call for the dismantling of the Jewish state's security fence. A last-minute compromise was reached whereby no mention of divestment would be made. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, called the resolutions "functionally anti-Semitic." He accused the UCC, which has 1.3 million members, of holding Israel to a different moral standard. David Elcott, the American Jewish Committee's U.S. Director of Interreligious Affairs, said, "We understand Christian concerns about a wall, but we believe that saving human lives is more significant than property." (AP/San Francisco Chronicle)