The United Church of Canada would do well to reject, at its upcoming general council meeting, a proposal to champion a boycott of Israeli institutions. Adoption of such a policy would put the church in some wretchedly unsavoury company.
The motion calls for "a comprehensive boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions at national and international levels." Background documentation citing last winter's Gaza fighting casts Israel as "a regime of exclusion, violence and dehumanization." It says Israel was founded on "ethnically cleansed" Palestinian land and even equates it with South Africa under apartheid. The documentation does suggest that Palestinians should refrain from suicide-bomb and rocket attacks, but proposes no sanctions against Palestinian terrorism.
The very presence of the motion on the church council's agenda has drawn accusations from Jewish organizations that the church is wallowing in "anti-Semitic behaviour ... an obscene gesture from a religious group." That might be somewhat harsh, considering that the proposal, from one unit of the church, stands a good chance of being defeated. But it indicates what the church would let itself in for if it backed a boycott.
Supporters of the proposal might be motivated purely by humanitarian concerns. The United Church has a longstanding, laudable tradition of human rights and social activism.
Further, it should be possible to criticize Israeli policies and military actions without being branded anti-Semitic. The concerns in the church about Israeli overkill are shared by many Israelis themselves.
But a blanket boycott would be counter-productive for the church's image as well as its avowed purpose. More could surely be accomplished by engaging Israeli institutions in reasoned debate. Why equate the Middle East's only functional democracy with fascist states?
The church should be guided by its own 2006 precedent when it rejected a proposal to cut investments in Israeli firms. The opposition was so overwhelming that it never even came to a vote. Instead, the church resolved to invest in Israeli companies that promote peace. There are such institutions, and the church should seek them out, not turn its back on them.