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The PC(USA) has long been an enigma to Jews. From where we sit, no Protestant denomination has as many vigorous and outspoken loyal critics within its ranks as do the Presbyterians. Websites and publications that offer alternative views to those of church officialdom abound within the PC(USA), whereas they do not in other denominations. Organized, vocal friendship for Israel and the Jewish people is stronger than in any other mainline denomination.

At the same time, no other denomination has a group of apparatchiks — at both national and committee levels — that so consistently and undemocratically thwarts the expressed will of its laity regarding the Middle East as does the PC(USA). When the 2006 General Assembly was on the verge of undoing the damaging divestment-from-Israel resolution of 2004, an 11th-hour move by Louisville leadership desperately tried to forestall it. When that failed, it spent the next two years trying to deny what clearly had been the will of the people: to move to greater balance and evenhandedness in its attitudes toward Israel.

Sadly, it is time for Jews, along with proud friends and allies within the PC(USA), to take off their gloves. Part of our struggle will be to contend with those who can find room to support the national liberation aspirations of every group on earth but the Jewish people.

In a long footnote to the new document, the authors express a revealing howler. The note describes the variegated landscape of contemporary Zionism, from settlers to secularists to Palestinian-rights advocates. Amazingly, it also includes "religious Jews who view human efforts to restore Jewish nationhood as a misguided usurpation of God's messianic design." The reference, of course, is to the Neturei Karta lunatic fringe group that equates any kind of Zionism with apostasy, and embraces (literally) Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

How could the folks in Louisville confuse the staunchest anti-Zionists on the planet with Zionists and elevate them to mainstream status? When it comes to Israel, some people in the PC(USA) have little patience for facts, let alone nuance and context. They demonize Israel as an aggressor state, and don't like to be reminded about invading Arab armies, spurned peace offers, the expulsion of Jews from every surrounding Arab country, terrorist attacks, and the loathsome way that every Arab government has used Palestinians as pawns while denying them the assistance that could have meant meaningful lives for three generations of their brethren. They certainly don't want to hear about Jewish roots in the Holy Land and a continuous presence for thousands of years.

Which is precisely why the world needed the first document. And precisely why the biases they won't own up to moved them to rescind it.

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein is interfaith director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles.

Opinions expressed in Speaking Out do not necessarily reflect the views of Christianity Today.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

"Jewish Groups Angered by Presbyterian Statement on Anti-Jewish Bias" explained that many Jewish leaders see "Vigilance against anti-Jewish bias" as pro-Palestinian.

Recent articles on Christian-Jewish relations include:

Christian Evangelism and Judaism | An exchange of views between a rabbi and a columnist. (April 2, 2008)

Why Evangelize the Jews? | God's chosen people need Jesus as much as we do. (March 25, 2008)

Pro-Israel vs. Pro-Palestine | A rabbi hopes for a better conversation. (January 23, 2008)

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June (Web-Only) 2008, Vol. 52