...It is unconscionable that Presbyterian leaders would meet with Hezbollah, which our government designates as a foreign terrorist organization. Hezbollah (Party of God) has a track record of terror that is unambiguous. It pioneered the use of suicide bombing in the Middle East. It is committed to the destruction of Israel, opposition to the West and the establishment of an Iranian-style militant Islamic fundamentalist state. Prior to Sept. 11, Hezbollah had murdered more Americans than any other terrorist organization...

..Hezbollah's reign of terror continues today. Just last week, Hezbollah attacked northern Israel in an attempt to capture Israelis. Hezbollah's satellite TV station, al-Manar ("The Beacon"), continues to broadcast messages of hate and violence, including raw anti-Semitic charges like the blood libel – the charge that Jews murder non-Jews to use their blood in religious ceremonies.

Hezbollah is interested in murder, not co-existence. It is an obstacle to peace that must be opposed at every opportunity. As America wages a war on terror, we cannot understand why Presbyterian leaders would meet with terrorists who have the blood of innocent people on their hands.

..."Terrorists are to be isolated and scorned, not embraced and praised," said Jay Tcath, director of Chicago's Jewish Community Relations Council, likening a meeting with Hezbollah to one with the Ku Klux Klan. "No friendship, no partnership can endure a divide as great as ours on the issue of terrorism."

Ira Youdovin, executive vice president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis, denounced the local church leaders for writing a "disheartening" letter that "constitutes an abdication of moral responsibility" and said they owe an apology to the Jews of Chicago and Israel and "victims of terrorism everywhere."...

...Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department, but Mr. Worley described it as "the group that's brought peace to that region of the world.

"Is 'terrorists' the right word? They are resistants," he said in an interview. "To listen to their side of the story is important to getting at truth."

Mr. Worley confirmed Lebanese television accounts that he said at the meeting that the Presbyterian delegation did not support the Bush administration's policies and that Americans don't hear about Hezbollah's "concern for the people of the south."...

...Soloff blasted Worley’s alleged comment that Americans are ignorant of Hezbollah’s good works.

“Would you talk about the Ku Klux Klan and its wonderful summer camps?” she said. “This is the same kind of thing.”...