Leaders of the Chicago Board of Rabbis have lambasted the head of the Presbyterian Church USA in the Chicago area for meeting with members of a terrorist organization last month in Lebanon.

In two letters -- one sent to local Presbyterian congregations and a second, more biting missive sent to the Rev. Robert Reynolds, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Chicago -- Rabbis Victor Mirelman and Ira Youdovin, president and executive vice president respectively of the board of rabbis, said they are outraged by the meeting Reynolds had with a Hezbollah commander while on a fact-finding trip to the Middle East with a delegation of other Presbyterians.

The Jewish leaders' ire has been further raised by Reynolds' statements to the media indicating he might consider meeting with Hezbollah again.

"Our outrage is by no means a manifestation of 'Jewish hypersensitivity,' " Youdovin and Mirelman wrote in their letter to Reynolds. "Your meeting last October has done serious damage to an 18-month-long process of Jewish-Presbyterian healing in Chicago. ... How can Chicago's Jewish community continue to seek strong relations with the Chicago Presbytery when its chief executive meets with terrorists bent on murdering Jews and annihilating the Jewish state?"...

...Supporters of the Presbyterian campaign acknowledge the direct economic threat imposed on Israel, the U.S. or any company would be minuscule -- a fact that may change as other mainline Protestant groups including the United Church of Christ and World Council of Churches also explore the measure.

"We don't have enough money to prevail in terms of a threat of removing our money, but it's a moral stand," said Coffman, who expects to vote in favor of the divestment process Tuesday. "The goal is to draw attention to the fact that we have serious concerns about home demolitions, about the occupation, about the settlements in Palestinian territories."

Opponents of economic pressure warn that such a strategy would backfire and that a show of support from Chicago--the seventh largest presbytery in the denomination--would further strain relations between Presbyterians and Jews. Some accuse the church of perpetuating a new anti-Semitism by uniting with organizations that oppose Israel's existence or a viable two-state solution...

...With the exception of this more straightforward language, the Green Party initiative is very similar to the Presbyterian divestment initiative. Like the PC(USA), the Green Party blames the cycle of all violence in the Middle East on the actions of Israel. Like the PC(USA)'s Washington Office, the Green Party demands right of return for 1948 refugees. Like the PC(USA)'s Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Green Party compares Israel to apartheid South Africa. Like the PC(USA), the Green Party demands the removal of the separation barrier. Like the PC(USA), the Green Party demands the immediate withdrawl of Israelis from all territorries occupied in the 1967 war. Also, like the PC(USA), the Green Party demands that Jerusalem be an international city belonging to people of all faiths. And like many of the PC(USA)'s partners in the cause, the Green Party recommends serious consideration to a one state solution...

...I'm writing out of deep concern for statements attributed to you in a December 2, 2005 New York Times article regarding the October, 2005 Chicago Presbytery Middle East Task Force traveling seminar visit to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. I find it strange and alarming that the Presbyterian Church (USA) coordinator of interfaith relations has reacted so negatively to the actions of a group of Presbyterians acting of their own volition to study interfaith relations in the Middle East.

I find it particularly distasteful that you are reported to have "promised Jewish leaders...that Presbyterians would develop guidelines for members traveling in troubled regions..." This Presbyterian rejects outright your prerogative to tell me where I may go or what I may say.

Your "promise" to Jewish leaders that Presbyterians will develop guidelines for members traveling in "troubled regions" is, on examination, absurd...

...Whatever one thinks of Hezbollah, they are viewed within the Middle East as one of the primary agents in causing the Israeli army to end, only five years ago, a brutal 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon. And, yes, as seminar leader Bob Worley may have been suggesting in his comment to Hezbollah representatives, the period since the end of the Israeli occupation has been one of relative peace for the Lebanese after years of scarring trauma. Many reasonable people agree that ending occupations is a desirable attainment, whether the occupier is Syrian, Israeli, or American. The Israeli occupation of Lebanon and the role of Hezbollah in forcing Israel's exit is a sensitive issue for many Israel supporters, as it became Israel's "Vietnam," an unwinnable quagmire...

Chicago Presbyterians on Tuesday overwhelmingly agreed that Presbyterian Church (USA) should confront corporations that prolong Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, but they divided on whether it should use economic leverage to push for peace.

They also agreed that if the national church does sell its shares of stock in companies that profit from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, those funds should be channeled toward hospitals, schools and weekend retreats in the Middle East--a strategy modeled earlier this year by Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago's largest and most affluent congregation.

While commissioners agreed that corporate engagement such as shareholder resolutions and publicity campaigns was one way to bring about peace in the Middle East, they were evenly split on whether an economic threat such as divestment should be used as a last resort or entirely removed from the conversation.

"Divestment is an inappropriate act of coercion in this circumstance," said Rev. Brian Paulson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Libertyville. His congregation has opposed divestment since December 2004. "It's been a distraction from our main objective also, which is justice and peace in Israel and Palestine and a two-state solution. In this context, divestment carries a coercive tone, which is not true to the character of the kind of witness we are called to bear in the face of power."...

The Presbyterian News Service published a story recently quoting a letter written by the Rev. Mitri Raheb, pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem's Old City.

Raheb is a frequent source for denominational news and political thinking on the Middle East. The Presbyterian Church (USA) lists him as a guest professor at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the mission partner in residence on the Worldwide Ministries Division staff of the denomination. But when his high-profile political activity becomes sensitive, it rarely mentions those connections.

In the most recent of many reports of Raheb's political activity, the PNS said he was criticizing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because she voiced support for the construction of a wall that separates Israel from Palestinian settlements.

Raheb said the wall is offensive because "it is designed to allow maximum expansion for Israeli settlements (which are unequivocally illegal under international law) and minimal space for Palestinian towns and villages to grow or even draw their livelihood."

He made no mention of Israel's contention that the wall is intended to provide a security against suicide bombers who have murdered hundreds of Israeli citizens – and that it has been effective in reducing those deaths. Nor did the story mention the role Raheb has played in shaping the PCUSA's controversial policies in the Middle East...