The role being performed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in singling out Israel for reprobation, and causing enormous damage to the Jewish state’s good name.
By JPOST EDITORIALPope Francis takes part in an ecumenical meeting at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, Switzerland(photo credit: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE)
French Jewish sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that religions distinguish between the sacred and the profane, performing the key sociological role of uniting societies.In his classic Elementary Forms (1912), Durkheim gives the following definition: “A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.”Durkheim’s definition comes to mind when reading Sunday’s report by the Israeli research institute NGO Monitor on the role being performed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in singling out Israel for reprobation, and causing enormous damage to the Jewish state’s good name.The WCC claims its main goal is to strive for Christian unity, representing 350 member churches in 110 countries and some 500 million Christians throughout the world. One of the ways it seeks to achieve that unity, according to NGO Monitor, is via anti-Israel advocacy.The EAPPI, Lahav Harkov reported in Monday’s Jerusalem Post, has sent 1,800 “ecumenical accompaniers” from around the world to serve as observers in the West Bank and Jerusalem over the past 15 years, and aspires to have 25-30 observers on the ground at all times. These volunteers reportedly enter Israel on tourist visas and receive 10 days of training, including “tips for public speaking and advocacy.”The advocacy involves recounting what they saw “to open the eyes of their communities, churches and governments to the realities of the occupation,” the EAPPI says, with the goal of sparking “international action for change.”The WCC, which was established in 1948, the same year as Israel, once performed a similar role in its campaign against apartheid South Africa. And if that analogy is not appalling enough, its activists have gone as far as comparing the Jewish state to Nazi Germany.South African EAPPI activist Itani Rasalanavho, for example, said during an “Apartheid Week” event in his home country that “the time has come to say that the victims of the Holocaust have now become the perpetrators,” while EAPPI national coordinator in South Africa Dudu Mahlangu-Masango called for “total sanctions” on Israel.The organization, according to NGO Monitor, also combats Christian Zionism. At a 2015 WCC event, it notes, Zionism was called “heresy” under Christian theology, modern Israelis were said to have no connection to ancient Israelites, and Israeli society was described as being “full of racism and light-skin privilege.”In response, the WCC told the Post that its unique focus on Israel was the result of “a specific call from WCC’s member churches in the region.” However, it stressed that it “does not countenance equating Israel to Nazi Germany, neither in the training of participants in the EAPPI nor otherwise,” and does not support economic measures against Israel.
Since its establishment, “the WCC has denounced antisemitism as a sin against God and humanity, and we strongly maintain that position,” declared WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs director Peter Prove.So who do we believe? Perhaps the best response, Mr. Prove, is: Prove it! If the WCC is not anti-Israel, then why is it funding what seems like a nefarious program in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against the Jewish state?Its aim is to harm Israel’s good name, and someone needed to blow the whistle. WCC needs to put its house in order.While criticism of Israel’s policies by religious institutions is legitimate under the principle of free speech, the WCC would do well to rein in those of its followers who have crossed the line and become overtly antisemitic.Israel has its faults, but it is nowhere near apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany. Israel’s robust democracy and strong support of religious freedom are sacred principles in our collective consciousness, while its enemies’ contempt for these principles and Zionism is profane in the extreme.If the WCC seeks true unity among its flock, why is it aligning itself with these enemies by bashing Zionists and targeting Israel, the only country in the Middle East that truly honors Christians and respects their religious rights?
