Alexa Smith

Assembly Presbyterian Church endorses Israel divestment


The 216th General Assembly approved several measures opposing the Israeli occupation of Palestine Friday, including a call for the corporate witness office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to begin gathering data to support a selective divestment of holdings in multinational corporations doing business in Israel/Palestine. Divestment is one of the strategies that U.S. churches used in the 1970s and ’80s in a successful campaign to end apartheid in South Africa. The vote was 431 to 62 to have the church’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) study the matter and make recommendations to the General Assembly Council.