WASHINGTON, DC  —  Christian and Jewish leaders gathered at the United Methodist Building in Washington, DC to applaud the actions of fifteen heads of major U.S. Christian denominations who called for a congressional investigation into possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act and the U.S. Export Control Act by Israel.  

The leaders came together to express their support for “the 15” who boldly questioned one of the presumably unshakeable tenets of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East region.  

Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director for the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, said outrage by detractors was an attempt to smear signers. Pro-Israeli lobbying on Capitol Hill, he said, is likewise based on intimidation and misinformation. A network of groups promoting peace among Israelis and Palestinians gathered over 15,000 signatures in support of “the 15” and their call to investigate Israeli policies that break U.S. law and violate human rights laws and principles in occupied Palestine.  The recent bombardment of Gaza, for example, was likely a breach of the Geneva Conventions which prohibit military action against an occupied people. Speakers testified to the use of U.S.-made munitions in the oppression of Palestinians, even holding up examples. 

 “The 15” have come under attack by members of their own denominations as well as the American Jewish Committee and the Union of Reformed Judaism, who cancelled a scheduled meeting of the Christian-Jewish Roundtable, an interfaith dialogue about the Middle East, in response.  Rabbi Liz Bolton, representing the Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, urged these groups to stay at the table. All people are created in God’s image, she said. “Jews and Christians and activists and humanists must all be able to speak truth to power, to call out as witnesses, and hold our leaders to account for their stewardship of our resources.”