Via Meadoweiss: A Message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu - UCC should Divest

[leveymg]

The United Church of Christ will hold its general synod in Cleveland June 26-30 and consider a divestment resolution targeting the Israeli occupation. Today Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu issued a statement supporting the resolution. - See more at: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/06/endorses-divestment-unconscionable?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=db022d092f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-db022d092f-398535353#sthash.lfEEgSv9.dpuf

I write to endorse, “A Call for the United Church of Christ to Take Actions Toward a Just Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”, Resolution #4, which will be put to the vote at your 30th General Synod later this month in Cleveland, Ohio.

We grieve over Israel’s decades long oppression of Palestine and Palestinians: The illegal occupation; the expanding West Bank settlements; the separation wall; the siege of Gaza; the manipulation of water rights; the network of checkpoints and settler bypass roads; the detention of people without charges; the travel restrictions, identity cards, and disruption of every aspect of daily life for Palestinians.

We condemn the brutality of Israel’s policies. But we do not condemn Judaism or Jews.

As South African, we recognize institutionalized racism when we see it. We have experienced the corrosive effects of segregation – and have witnessed the healing power and joy of reconciliation.

It is unconscionable to remain silent, or neutral, in the face of injustice. Neutrality maintains the status quo and compounds the injustice. (Emphasis added)

[shira]

1. Tutu's hatred of Israel is based on old-school, medieval christian loathing of Jews

His close ties to the anti-Israel, Christian hate group 'Sabeel' prove it.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Do you care to prove Tutu's antisemitism...

or that his views are medievil?

[shira]

7. Alan Dershowitz wrote up a tour de force proving it...

One example after the next.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1742/bishop-tutu-is-no-saint-when-it-comes-to-jews

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

10. Gatestone and the SuperDersh...?!!

Sorry, try pulling something out of reality!

[shira]

13. Well, Mondoweiss, Maan, & MidEastMonitor are far more credible than Dersh.....

Aren't they?



Dersh's views on Israel are mainstream Democratic Party while those who side with Tutu on Israel represent the far fringes on both the Left and Right.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

19. Whatever you say dear.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

21. "I can't stand him. He's a liar," Sarkozy said of Netanyahu, according to the website.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/08/world/europe/france-sarkozy-netanyahu/

Obama replied, "You're tired of him; what about me? I have to deal with him every day," the site reported.

[leveymg]

3. You have an absurd tar brush to smear just about everyone who criticizes Israel, don't you?

This is an anti-Tutu meme being spread by something called the GATESTONE INSTITUTE, which is headed by (off their masthead): http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/experts/

Distinguished Senior Fellows

Ambassador John R. Bolton, Chairman

[Jefferson23]

4. Gatestone Institute is used here often..it's funny b/c they don't recognize how it is identified

politically.

[Mosby]

6. guilt by association logical fallacy

Is that all you got?

[shira]

8. Here's Alan Dershowitz with MANY examples demonstrating Tutu's hate....

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1742/bishop-tutu-is-no-saint-when-it-comes-to-jews

[leveymg]

9. You are incredibly tone deaf if you think that John Bolton and Alan Dershowitz carry weight on this

If you want to be effective at DU, you probably shouldn't reference confirmed arch-reactionaries and neoconservatives as sources.

You might as well quote Pik Botha on the subject.

[shira]

12. Let the record speak for itself. Tutu's bigotry against Jews is out there....

...for all to see.

As for Dershowitz, his views on Israel are mainstream Democratic views.

Tutu's prejudiced views on Israel only resonate with fringe extremists on the far Left and Right.

[leveymg]

15. You are utterly in LaLaLand. Tutu is revered by the vast majority of Americans and the world

Dershowitz's views on the subject aren't even typical for American Jews, much less consistent with mainstream Democrats.

[shira]

17. LaLaLand? Name 2-3 Democrats in power who have views on Israel.....

...that are similar to Tutu's.

I don't think you have any idea what's mainstream.

Mainstream Dems and American Jews would overwhelmingly side with Dersh (over Tutu) on Israel.

[azurnoir]

16. Here is what Archbishop Tutu said published when he said it in 1989

Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu of Cape Town, the Anglican Primate of Southern Africa, urged Israelis today to pray for and forgive those responsible for the Nazi genocide.

''Our Lord would say that in the end the positive thing that can come is the spirit of forgiving, not forgetting, but the spirit of saying: God, this happened to us,'' the South African cleric said after visiting Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

''We pray for those who made it happen, help us to forgive them and help us so that we in our turn will not make others suffer,'' he said in what he described as the message he would offer to the descendants of those who suffered the Nazi crime that took six million Jewish lives.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/27/world/tutu-urges-israelis-to-pray-for-and-forgive-nazis.html

[Mosby]

5. Meadoweiss, I like it!

[King_David]

11. Well Mondoweiss is considered by some to be a hate site...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134102914#post8

Not sure about Meadoweiss....

[shira]

14. No, it's a hate site Par Excellence. There's no question about it. n/t

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

20. Keep on selling that bunk, dave. Perhaps somebody will buy it off of you for a nickle.

[Little Tich]

18. There's nothing wrong with divesting from Israel's illegal occupation.

Some seem to believe that there's something anti-Semitic going on here. I don't believe so. This is what non anti-Semitic objections to what Israel is doing in the occupied territories look like:

(From Tutu's statement 4th par)

We grieve over Israel’s decades long oppression of Palestine and Palestinians: The illegal occupation; the expanding West Bank settlements; the separation wall; the siege of Gaza; the manipulation of water rights; the network of checkpoints and settler bypass roads; the detention of people without charges; the travel restrictions, identity cards, and disruption of every aspect of daily life for Palestinians.