I’m borrowing this line from Ariel Vegosen, a Jewish woman attending the UMC Conference in Tampa (GC2012). She states, “I am here as a Jewish ally to support divestment and to support my Methodist brothers and sisters as they make this important and historic decision.”
With American support for Israel an unquestioned historical and political reality, one must be brave or foolish to raise concern for Israeli policy toward the Palestinians. Yet, that is what Vegosen is doing, and she is at the Conference to encourage those who promote divestment from US companies perceived to sustain the illegal and immoral occupation of Palestinian lands.
Of course, divestment was a means of financial protest that contributed to the fall of South African apartheid a generation ago.
Two years ago at the Presbyterian General Assembly, I spent a couple of hours at the Cokesbury bookstore signing copies of my novel, A Wretched Man. Two other authors were present at the same time, Gustav Niebuhr from the famous Niebuhr family, and Mark Braverman. Like Vegosen, Braverman is a Jew who attended a Christian convention to advocate for Christians to denounce Israeli policies detrimental to the Palestinians. Braverman’s book is entitled, Fatal Embrace, Christians, Jews and the search for peace in the Holy Land.
A couple of voices crying in the wilderness worth listening to. Click on their names above to hear their voices.
