UN Special Envoy denounces Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for passing resolutions unfavorable to Israel

Jardine Malado Sunday, August 21, 2016

UN Special Envoy Laurie Cardoza-Moore condemned the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) when the church group overwhelmingly voted on two resolutions that could be disadvantageous to the state of Israel. Cardoza-Moore considered the vote as anti-Semitic for fixating on Israel.

View of the Old City from Mount of Olives | Wikimedia Commons/Wayne McLean

One of the resolutions passed by the ELCA calls on the U.S. government to freeze financial and military aid to Israel unless it stops building settlements in Palestinian lands. The resolution also calls on the U.S. government to recognize Palestine as a state and to allow their application for membership to the United Nations.

A separate resolution asks the church council to set up investment screens against companies that exacerbate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The same resolution named Hewlett-Packard Company, Caterpillar Corporation, Motorola Solutions and Group 4 Securicor (G4S) as companies that are providing products and services that Israel uses to continue their occupation of Palestinian territories.

According to Yeshiva World, Cardoza-Moore called the resolutions "anti-Christian" and pointed out that the church group is echoing Martin Luther's anti-Semitism. "It would seem that the Lutheran Church has chosen to follow in the path of their founder Martin Luther, who, later in his life, became a vehement anti-Semite," she remarked.

The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), United Methodists, Unitarian Universalists and the Southern Baptists have recently voted on resolutions regarding Israel with different outcomes. The United Methodists, Unitarian Universalists and the Southern Baptists have voted in favor of Israel while the PCUSA has voted to pressure Israel into leaving occupied territories in Palestine.

Cardoza-Moore has been actively campaigning against Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movements (BDS) and she is currently serving as the president of the pro-Israel group Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN).

Last May, Cardoza-Moore opposed a UNESCO resolution to declare the Temple Mount as a Muslim holy site, claiming that it would threaten Jews and Christians. She also called on UNESCO to condemn the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf for the destruction of artifacts under the Temple Mount.