CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALL ON CONGRESS TO STOP MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL

Recently, 15 Christian religious leaders signed a letter to Congress accusing Israel of human rights violations against the Palestinians and urging Congress to stop giving military aid to the Jewish State.

Whatever human rights violations may have been committed by Israel must be seen in the context that Israel had to take harsh measures to prevent Palestinians from committing terrorist acts against innocent men, women and children.

Furthermore cutting of military aid to Israel will hurt the economy of the United States. That military aid comes with strings attached. It requires Israel to purchase its military supplies from American manufacturers. Israel is quite capable of producing its own state-of-the-art tanks, war planes and munitions. It would cost the U.S. thousands of jobs if Israel were to stop buying American made war materials.

Here is a list of the religious leaders who signed that letter to Congress:

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons; Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; United Methodist Council of Bishops President Rosemarie Wenner; Peg Birk, transitional general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Shan Cretin, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee; J. Ron Byler, executive director of the Mennonite Central Committee U.S.; and Alexander Patico, North American secretary for the Orthodox Peace Fellowship. Diane Randall, executive secretary of the Friends Committee on Legislation; American Baptist Churches General Secretary A. Roy Medley; United Church of Christ General Minister and President Geoffrey A. Black; the Rev. Sharon Watkins, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); the Rev. Julia Brown Karimu, president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Division of Overseas Ministries; the Rev. James A. Moos, executive minister for the United Church of Christ’s Wider Church Ministries; Eli S. McCarthy, justice and peace director for the Conference of Major Superiors of Men; and Kathy McKneely, acting director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.