Wednesday, June 25, 2014

NGO Monitor: Antisemitism Exposed Within Presbyterian Church Activist Group Behind Divestment Vote



Antisemitism exposed within Presbyterian Church activist group behind divestment vote  

Jerusalem - NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem based research institute, has released evidence that anti-Jewish prejudice was prominent among the internal church advocates for boycott and divestment (BDS) efforts.

The Israel-Palestine Mission Network (IPMN), a church affiliated activist group centrally responsible for lobbying the church to divest from companies that do business with Israel and publisher of the highly controversial booklet, Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study, also promoted antisemitism on its Facebook page.    

"The IPMN's Facebook page is in fact a hate site operating under the protective wings of the Presbyterian Church," said Yitzhak Santis, NGO Monitor's Chief Programs Officer. "None of the antisemitic postings were repudiated by the IPMN leadership or other members of this Facebook group. Several Presbyterian Church senior staff members are also members of this group, and they remained silent."





IPMN members have contributed numerous postings in a "closed but not secret" Facebook group expressing overtly antisemitic sentiments, including crude anti-Jewish caricatures and links to antisemitic websites. One statement (Nov 2, 2013), "Israel's Zionist establishment wants constant war. No longer a surprise, but a most serious evil;" links to Press TV (the state-owned English-language TV station of the Islamic Republic of Iran). Other postings promoted racialist theories of Jewish origins, such as, "It seems like the Ashkenazis (sic) have an inferiority complex because they descend from Kaszars (sic) and lack any genetic tie to Palestine... the Ashkenazis are looking more fraudulent than ever in claiming a Jewish Homeland for the Jewish (White Race) only."

"The moral credibility of the Presbyterians is on the line," continued Santis. "The church must repudiate and fully distance itself from IPMN and its bigotry. IPMN has been walking the church down a dark path, and Presbyterians should ask themselves if this is the direction they wish to go," Santis said.

The IPMN closed down its open Facebook page in January 2012 after strong criticism over extremist material appearing on its site. IPMN then reopened their Facebook group as a "closed but not secret" page in July 2012. IPMN's Facebook group page now has 272 members.

Read the full report [The Role of Antisemitism in the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Decision to Support Divestment] to view the antisemitic posts from IPMN's Facebook page.


NGO Monitor, an independent research institution, was founded in 2002 in the wake of the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. At this conference, 1,500 NGOs formulated the "Durban Strategy" which aims to isolate Israel through measures such as boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns, lawfare, delegitimization and demonization.
  
NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org), is the leading source of expertise on the activities and funding of political advocacy NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. NGO Monitor provides detailed and fully sourced information and analysis, promotes accountability, and supports discussion on the reports and activities of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) claiming to advance human rights and humanitarian agendas.
  
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