International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, July 2, 2010

The annual conference of the Methodist Church of Britain unanimously voted on Wednesday to adopt a boycott Israeli-produced goods and services from the West Bank with the aim of ending "the existing injustice" of Israel’s "illegal occupation of Palestinian lands."

The motion stated that the boycott of goods "from illegal Israeli settlements" was in response to a call by the World Council of Churches -- which advocates divestment from Israel -- and by Palestinian civil society and "a growing number of Jewish organizations in Israel and worldwide."

The decision was based on a study over the past year by a working group examining ways the church could help end the "occupation" as well as Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The resulting 54-page report produced by the church body, titled "Justice for Palestine and Israel," was met by fierce criticism from Christian and Jewish leaders in the UK.

David Gifford, the chief executive of the Council of Christians and Jews, said he was disappointed that the Israeli narrative was not heard during the debate. Other local Jewish leaders called it a "deeply flawed report" born out of "a biased process." Britain’s main Jewish umbrella organization, the Board of Deputies, said the conference should "hang its head in shame... Israel is at the root of the identity of Jews and of Judaism, and as an expression of Jewish spiritual, national and emotional aspirations. Zionism cannot simply be ruled as illegitimate in the way that the conference has purported to do. This smacks of breathtaking insensitivity, as crass as it is misinformed."

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