A group of predominantly African-American churches in America’s south has strongly condemned the http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/73104/black-lives-matter-a ctivists-protest-alongside-palestinians-in-israel/ - (BLM) movement’s anti-Israel political platform and reaffirmed its strong support for the Jewish State.
Responding to https://policy.m4bl.org/invest-divest/ - ,
which accuses Israel of conducting “genocide” against the Palestinian
people and calls it an “apartheid state”, the Ecumenical Leadership
Council of Missouri (ELCM) released its own statement firmly rejecting
the anti-Israel language.
image: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08 /elcm.png
ELCM logo “ http://www.blackclergyleaders.org/about/ - The Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri , representing hundreds of predominantly http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/68654/ifcj-brings-26-afric an-american-christian-leaders-to-israel-05-16/ -
throughout the state, rejects without hesitation any notion or
assertion that Israel operates as an apartheid country,” read the
statement.
In its platform, BLM, a movement
which arose in 2013 in response to an increase in incidents of black
citizens being shot by police officers in the US, expanded significantly
on its aims by making a highly critical statement on Israel. The
inclusion of a stance on Israel was a decision which confused and
angered many Jewish BLM supporters.
The platform calls for a ceasing of
US aid to Israel, claiming that America “justifies and advances the
global war on terror via its alliance with Israel and is complicit in
the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.”
The stance was https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/20 16/08/05/jewish-groups-decry-black-lives-matter-platfor ms-view-on-israel/ - not only by Jews who felt alienated by it, but by Christians who are proudly pro-Israel.
One voice which spoke up was that of the Ecumenical Leadership Council of Missouri, led by Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten. The ELCM http://www.stltoday.com/news/opinion/mailbag/churches-r eject-black-lives-matter-s-platform-on-israel/arti cle_42a99819-8231-572f-83d1-82d7a753a8f8.html?utm_medium=soc ial&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share - expressing respect for BLM’s original goals but asserting that it could not stand behind the movement’s anti-Israel position.
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“Black Lives Matter as an
organization arose to confront the abuse of predominantly, although not
exclusively, African-American males by white police officers,” wrote
Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten, president of ELCM, acknowledging that BLM
“plays a vital role in addressing racially driven police abuse in
America.”
However, the Bishop continued, the Council “rejects without hesitation” any suggestion that Israel is an apartheid state.
Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten (Church of God in Christ) “We embrace our Jewish brethren in
America and respect Israel as a Jewish state,” he wrote, adding a
reminder that Jews were among the few groups which have historically
supported African Americans in their struggle for civil rights.
“Jewish-Americans have worked with
African-Americans during the civil rights era when others refused us
service at the counter — and worse,” he admonished.
“Anyone who studies American history
will no doubt find the names Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew
Goodman, two Jews and an African-American, who lost their lives trying
to provide civil rights for blacks in the south.”
The Christian leader was referring to
the 1964 abduction and murder of Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, three
civil rights workers who were killed by members of the white supremacist
Ku Klux Klan while traveling through Mississippi on a campaign to
register black voters.
“We cannot forget their noble sacrifices,” concluded Bishop Wooton. “Neither should Black Lives Matter.”