This article was originally published by Mennonite World Review

Need to divest

The Mennonite Church USA convention’s decision to table the Israel divestment resolution is both surprising and disappointing. I have long realized some Mennonites are caught up with Christian Zionism but thought MC USA was not.

Everyone wants peace, but there can be no peace without justice. Having lived in the Middle East for 20 years, and having recently returned from Israel/Palestine, I observed firsthand the shocking lack of justice in Israel’s Palestine policy. There comes a time when Christians need to take a stand, to challenge injustice in a spirit of love the way Jesus did and as Paul tells us to do in Romans 12.

Munther Isaac, a Palestinian pastor in Bethlehem, is concerned that “Christians around the world are becoming too nice, too diplomatic, toothless. They tell us to get along, and [they] give money to both sides. That’s not what we need. That’s going to maintain the occupation.”

Thanks to Mennonite Central Committee for their continued humanitarian support of the Palestinians, and bravo, Gwen Gus­tafson-Zook, for urging acceptance of the divestment resolution.

Betty (Baerg) Lofland
Pasadena, Calif.

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