My letter to the Presbyterians

by Terry Traub

(updated July 24, 2006)

(Sent to Mark McCabe, an administrative assistant for the Middle Eastern affairs office of the Presbyterian Church of the U.S.)

Dear Mr. McCabe,

I read about your organization's visits to Lebanon to meet with Hezbollah, a terrorist organization whose charter includes the destruction of Israel and the imposition of a fundamentalist Islamic lifestyle on all Lebanese.

I wanted to make you and your fellow Presbyterians aware of the fact that precisely one country in the entire Middle East is tolerant of Christians, allows freedom of worship, and is a parliamentary democracy where Jews, Christians, and Arabs all have the right to vote and hold office. That country is, of course, Israel. Saudi Arabia recently arrested 40 Christians for "spreading poison". Lebanon's Muslims would like to push the Christians out. Read what they say about you. Christians are regularly bashed in the Arab and Iranian press as infidels and "Jews" and pigs who are unworthy of living.

In light of these facts, the Presbyterian delegations to Lebanon to meet with Hezbollah leaders seem bizarre and quixotic, if not downright treasonous. I read today at memri.org that your delegation spokesman Robert Worley told the Lebanese, "We do not wish to defend the U.S. administration. We all elected the Democratic Party against the Republican Party. Rest assured that we will return to the U.S. in order to continue our activity for peace, and we want to hear about the charity activities and the cultural and social activities organized by Hizbullah in south [Lebanon]. The Americans hear in the Western media that Hizbullah is a terrorist organization, and they do not hear any other opinion. They know nothing about the party's concern for the people of the south. We have suffered much pressure on the part of Jewish organizations in the U.S. because [of our help in] divesting corporations working with Israel. We want Jerusalem to be a united city, just as we encouraged the Palestinians and the Jews to work for peace, and we demanded that our administration adheres to this position."

Why could this cowardly man not have told the Hezbollah the obvious truth, that is that there will never be peace in the Middle East until the Muslim countries stop warring on Israel and accept her as their permanent neighbor? In 1948 the United Nations partitioned biblical Israel/modern Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, but the Arabs have never accepted this arrangement and now this idealistic fool Worley goes running to some of the worst troublemakers and kisses up to them. Did he also thank them for killing 183[*] American Marines in a suicide bombing in 1983?

I suggest that you promulgate among your congregations a set of historical documents that will educate Presbyterians as to the facts behind the Middle East conflicts. You can get such information from the Middle East Review and other sources which I will be happy to provide.

But to single out the Jews of Israel as the enemy while praising a terrorist organization is morally repugnant and hypocritical. It smacks of appeasement, much like Neville Chamberlain and the Nazis, a group he "could do business with". It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall and hear what these Iran-funded Hezbollah fundamentalist Shiites say about the Christians after they leave the room.

Meanwhile, Israel, apparently the great enemy of the Presbyterians, is honest about its goals and intentions, which are to preserve its existence and to be a peaceful mercantile nation that contributes at the highest levels to the arts and the sciences--and to meet force with force when absolutely necessary, as well befits a people scarred by 2,000 years of suffering.

Sincerely,
Terry Traub


[*] The number of Marines killed is actually 241. My apologies for the inaccuracy. --T.T. 5-Feb-2006


May 14, 2006
I had assumed that no one had bothered to read my letter. But this came today from Larry Rued, so I must have been added to some kind of mailing list. It's nice to see that there are some levelheaded people inside this organization.

The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)  General Assembly (GA)  will be meeting June 15-22, 2006.   One of the many contentious issues that will be debated at this General Assembly is the Israel Divestment Resolution approved at the 2004 GA.  As a PCUSA elder, I would like to commend some excellent websites on the Presbyterian Divestment topic.

 1.  In 2004/2005 I managed a petition calling upon the PCUSA GA to return in a special session to rescind the divestment resolution.  More than 2,200 PCUSA members, elders, and ministers signed the petition.   You may find the comments left by these Presbyterians helpful in any commentary you may write.

 2.  Presbyterian elder, Will Spotts, has created the Bearing Witness website.  I particularly commend his compelling and comprehensive analysis, Pride and Prejudice: The Presbyterian Divestment Story .   Elder Spotts also wrote an insightful commentary on anti-semitism, If it Walks Like a Duck...

3. A coalition of Presbyterian elders and ministers created "The Committee to End Divestment Now"   I commend their indepth and complete analysis of PCUSA divestment issues.

 4. The American Interfaith Institute's Faiths for Fairness project provides additional information.  I particularly commend your attention to the letter listing the biased actions of the PCUSA church leaders.

 In the ensuing days I will forward relevant news regarding the Presbyterian's Divestment from Israel Resolution.

 Larry Rued

July 24, 2006
I noticed this news item at the PCUSA website:
It is with great anxiety and distress that we hear the news of continuing acts of hostility and violence being exchanged across the Southern Lebanese border, and of the repeated harsh and disproportionate retaliatory attacks on the country of Lebanon. The severe loss of life among innocent civilians and the massive destruction of infrastructures and blockage of access weigh very heavily on our hearts and minds. In anger and frustration we have cried out, "Lord, how long?" Yet with hope, in the midst of this devastation, we also look to God for mercy. We pray that God, whose will is peace, may breathe God's Spirit of calm on all his warring children.
This is part of a letter from Clifton Kirkpatrick, instigator of the controversial disinvestment campaign against Israel, to PCUSA "partners" in Lebanon. Note the use of the word "disproportionate". What is it with these people and proportionate response? Is disinvestment a "proportionate" response to Israel's policy in Gaza? How do the qassam rockets being fired every day by Gazans at Israeli towns figure into this proportionality equation, and how was the illegal crossing of the border, surprise slaying of eight Israeli soldiers and kidnapping of two others justified in any way, especially when it came on top of many shooting incidents across the border, an occasional rocket into Israel from Lebanon, and incessant threats to wipe Israel from the map by Hezbollah's puppetmasters in Iran?

It seems to me that this guy could care less about Israel's well being as long as his Hezbollah buddies are happy. Maybe he should send Robert Worley back over there to push PCUSA's "solidarity" with Hezbollah, and they can perhaps teach him how to operate a rocket launcher. Who knows, he might get lucky and hit a Jew.

Hit Counter


Home