Bravo United Church, says Montréal Palestinian-Jewish group

Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) wishes to add its voice to those who congratulate the United Church of Canada for passing the motion calling for the boycott of products issuing from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In so doing, the United Church of Canada confirms its solidarity with Palestinian civil society’s call in 2005 for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. It is also the United Church of Canada’s statement of commitment to the principle of human rights and the rule of international law.

PAJU also congratulates the United Church of Canada for refusing to be intimidated by the fear-mongering and fundamental dishonesty of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and other Zionist organizations who use the epithet of ‘anti-Semitism’ as an instrument for beating down those who would stand against the institutionalized racism practiced against the Palestinian people by the State of Israel. The United Church of Canada stands on the same ground as Israeli human-rights groups such as B’Tselem, Gush Shalom, Yesh Gvul, Rabbis for Human Rights, Alternative Information Center and others.

The United Church of Canada’s decision to boycott goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements is also important in that it follows similar boycott motions adopted by the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. For Palestinian and Jewish Unity, the United Church of Canada’s action lends credence to PAJU’s own boycott campaign against Naot Shoes which has a manufacturing center in the Gush Etzion block of Israeli settlements near Hebron in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.