BDS IN THE PEWS:

European, U.S. and Canadian Government Funding Behind Anti-Israel Activism
in Mainline Churches

NGO Monitor's latest report documents the flow of funds from European, US
and Canadian governments to several Palestinian and pro-Palestinian
Christian NGOs that promote boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), and
supersessionist theologies, in mainline churches across the globe.

The main findings:

In the last decade, BDS aimed at Israel developed as a key issue in mainline
Christian denominations in the United States, Europe, Canada, and elsewhere.

A number of European governments, plus the United States and Canada provide
funds for these church-based efforts to delegitimize Israel. These taxpayer
funds are disbursed as grants to church-based humanitarian NGOs, which then
transfer these funds to highly politicized pro-Palestinian NGOs, including
Christian groups that promote within mainline churches BDS, the one-state
solution and, in many cases, antisemitic supercessionist, or replacement,
theologies.

The US government, through the National Endowment for Democracy (mostly
funded by the US Congress) granted the Holy Land Trust $124,300 (2009, 2010,
2012). HLT's executive director Sami Awad, speaking at the National
Leadership Conference for the Vineyard Church in 2009, told the audience (at
01:20:27 in the audio): "We've actually done training in non-violence for
Hamas leaders and other militant groups as well." Hamas is listed as a
terrorist organization by the US State Department and the EU. Further, the
US Supreme Court upheld a law criminalizing material support for terror
organizations. (Holder, Attorney General, et al. v. Humanitarian Law Project
et al. 2010). The law defines "material support" as including "any property,
tangible or intangible, or service, including... training, expert advice or
assistance..." Based in Bethlehem, HLT is a signatory to the 2005
"Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS" and supports the Kairos Palestine
document. HLT conducts highly politicized tours to the region targeting
church leaders.

BDS strategists view the churches as a key target for promoting the BDS
agenda because: "religious institutions are seen in many communities as
embodying important moral and ethical principles... Divestment campaigns
that target companies such as Caterpillar have been initiated in a number of
major Christian churches. Not only will successful divestment campaigns
financially weaken the Occupation, but will raise both the public profile
and legitimacy of the BDS campaign."

To read the full report, click here.

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article/bds_in_the_pews_european_us_and_canadian_government_funding_behind_anti_israel_activism_in_mainline_churches

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