United Church of Canada will boycott goods from Israeli settlements

One of the larger denominations in Canada has taken a different tack than the Episcopal Church took at its General Convention on issues relating to Israel and Palestine. Haaretz has the story:

Canada's largest Protestant church has approved a boycott of products made in Israeli settlements.

Meeting in Ottawa, the governing General Council of the United Church of Canada's General Council on Friday supported a resolution calling for a boycott of goods produced in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.

Details of how the boycott will be applied will be determined in the coming weeks and months, officials told the National Post.

The resolution calls on church members "to avoid any and all products produced in the settlements"; requests that the Canadian government ensure that "all products produced in the settlements be labeled clearly and differently from products of Israel"; and requests that products produced in the settlements not be given preferential treatment under the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement.

The boycott does not extend to products produced inside Israel's pre-1967 borders.

Posted by Jim Naughton on August 20, 2012 12:10 PM | |
Comments (4)

Good on them [assuming that what they are boycotting are products from the Occupied Territories, and not, as the article title seems to suggest, ontological goodness ;-) ]

Posted by Bill Dilworth [TypeKey Profile Page] | August 20, 2012 12:55 PM

An error in your lede.

The UNited Church of Canada is not the largest church in Canada. That distinction still belongs to Rome.

Thx Malcolm - noted ~ed.

Posted by Malcolm French+ [TypeKey Profile Page] | August 20, 2012 1:29 PM

The United Church of Canada is normally described as the largest protestant denomination in Canada.
It is larger, and usually more socially courageous, than our Anglican Church of Canada.

Those of you who followed this issue during General Convention may be interested in how this is playing in Canada. Last Friday, "As it Happens" a national radio program on (CBC)Canada's public broadcaster interviewed The Most Rev. David Giuliano, a past moderator of the UCC and chair of the Palestine/Israel working group. A link is here for a podcast version of the interview. Its is at the top pf the hour in Part II and runs just over 6:40. Giuliano notes that the UCC is calling for economic action directed only at products produced in the settlements.
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2269764112,%202269765955

The UCC has taken a lot of flak over this here in the Toronto based press. I've attached a link to an editorial from the (somewhat hopefully named) National Post. The paper is based in T.O. and a former speech writer for George Bush is one of its sometime contributors.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/08/16/national-post-editorial-board-the-united-church-should-focus-on-faith-not-activism/

Posted by Rod Gillis [TypeKey Profile Page] | August 20, 2012 11:00 PM

Thank you, Rod! David Giuliano is excellent in the interview.

I wish we had the same high quality of media coverage in the United States that the CBC provides in Canada.

Gary Paul Gilbert

Posted by Gary Paul Gilbert [TypeKey Profile Page] | August 21, 2012 6:40 PM

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