Turning Christians against Israel. In May, the Carter Center in Atlanta, with patron Jimmy Carter presiding, hosted liberal religious officials to talk about the Middle East, releasing a statement effectively calling for a more neutral U.S. stance towards Israel. In June, in between meeting with Hamas officials, Carter met with Palestinian church prelates in Jerusalem. One of his hosts was Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Anglican clergy who heads Sabeel, an advocate of Palestinian Liberation Theology, and a chief voice for anti-Israel organizing among Western churches.
The Rev. Ateek is a frequent visitor to the U.S. and, after attending the early July Episcopal Church General Convention in Anaheim, is doing a speaking tour of churches and radio stations in the Pacific Northwest, mostly touting his latest book, “A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation.” On July 20 he was interviewed on KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, broadcasting his themes of Israel’s similarity to South African Apartheid, the injustice of Israel’s security barrier, and his insistence that Palestinian Christians are dwindling in numbers because of Israel and not because of Hamas or radical Islam.
