LONDON — The Methodist Church in Britain has launched a boycott of all products from Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories, prompting a wave of protests and accusations of anti-Semitism.
“The goal of the boycott is to put an end to the existing injustice. It reflects the challenge that settlements present to a lasting peace in the region,” said Christine Elliott, the church’s secretary for external relationships, after a vote on the issue June 30 at the denomination’s highest decision-making body, the Methodist Conference.
The church is also seeking to persuade Britain’s major supermarkets to comply with British government guidelines on distinguishing between products from Israeli settlements on the West Bank and Palestinian-manufactured goods. With about 265,000 members and about 5,800 local congregations, the Methodist Church says it is Britain’s fourth-largest denomination.
In a statement, the church said its decision on the products from Israeli settlements was in response to a call from a group of Palestinian Christians, a “growing number” of Jewish organizations, both inside Israel and worldwide, and the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. Speaking at the end of the conference in Portsmouth, in southern England, Anna Drew, a Methodist Church media officer, told Ecumenical News International, “We have been inundated with e-mails from people accusing the Methodist Church of anti-Semitism. People who make such claims are completely wrong. We are not anti-Semitic. We are looking for justice.”
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