I've been saying for years now that George W. Bush is a Jew-hater and an Israel hating anti-Semite. No one would listen. When we began reading of Bush's close family connections to Israel's enemies, the Saudis, it became obvious that Bush, like family friend James Baker is no friend of the Jewish state. Bush has made the establishment of a Palestinian terror state in the holy land a formal goal of U.S. policy. He is the first. Jimmy Carter and George W. have much in common. They both are with Israel's enemies.

it is about time the methodist movement addressed the injustices commited against the palestinians since 1948 and on .no matter how strong our biblical belief is we should not confuse religion or use it as justification to commit political injustices .the palestinian people have major grievances agaist the west to uproot the palestinians from their home land and give it to the jews of europe to settle the land ..it is time to deal with this issue in fairness for the sake of the world and the the two semitic people .

so what would happen if one fine Sunday young Jewish teens and Holocoust survivors stood outside of their local methodist church and took photos of the congregants to be published in a local paper under the caption: "the faces of bigotry"... maybe not the most subtle idea PR wise but policies are made by individuals and the members should be held personally responsible for their church's actions.

Methodists are not anti-semites and to call them that because they differences about Israel's foreign policy dilutes the power of the anti-semite charge. I have followed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for years in the Israeli press and not all Israeli's themselves support the occupation of Palestinian territories promoted largely by conservative settlers parties. Do you call those Israelis anti-semites? Methodists wish no harm to Jews and the worse you can say about them is they do not agree with the radical right of Israeli politics.

THE New England branch of Methodist Church calls for divestment from (American) companies linked to Israel. IN your press release you state that it is NOT your goal to impact Israel's economy adversely. PUTTING these 2 together I come to the following conclusion : that Israel should not have business dealings with American companies -- but that Israel should have business dealings with others (you mean to say European companies ???). I think the American public will NOT be happy with the Church's call !! I would advise the Methodist Church : keep yourself engaged with that which you are supposed to be EXPERT in -- namely knowledge about God. Do NOT talk about things of which you have little or no knowledge !!!!

To Thourohly Examin The Radical Islamic Cause and methods and bounce it off the truths that our savior taught ....and become very familiar with Sharia Law ...because many countries in which the methodist church has a presence will have to comply with sharia law ...many of these countries including euope -muslim populations are growing by leaps and bounds and are pushing for sharia law as an adjunct to the normal government system.... Sharia Law is an anti-thesis to liberal thought

It may not be much, but it is a way to show support.

Mr aldrich thinks that divesting from Israel is going to create peace i the Middle East....he is teribly wrong. Israel is dedicated to peace. Israel has made incredible sacrifices of land (W. Bank and Gaza) and is willing to make more for peace. What does he mean when he sais he "knows it will not effect the economy."? Of course it will effect the economy, its DIVESTMENT!" If Mr. Aldrich wants to tell his congregants to divest from something it should be IRan. Stifling the monetary support of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the Muslim brotherhood would be the biggest contribution to peace in the region. Do not divest from the only democratic, free, peaceful, safe, prosperous, (not to mention smallest) state in the Middle East.

is wrong; the United Methodist Church explicitly rejects replacement theology. Its official position states in part: "As Christians, we stand firm in our belief that Jesus was sent by God as the Christ to redeem all people, and that in Christ the biblical covenant has been made radically new. While church tradition has taught that Judaism has been superseded by Christianity as the "new Israel," we do not believe that earlier covenantal relationships have been invalidated or that God has abandoned Jewish partners in covenant....We believe that just as God is steadfastly faithful to the biblical covenant in Jesus Christ, likewise God is steadfastly faithful to the biblical covenant with the Jewish people. The covenant God established with the Jewish people through Abraham, Moses, and others continues because it is an eternal covenant. "

Thomas, as a thirty six year registered Republican, I have to confess that I voted for George W. Bush (a Methodist) in 2000; sadly. Are you a Methodist? I am on the right. I believe in the sanctity of innocent human life. I am pro-life, unlike Mr. Bush. I believe suicide bombings are evil. Bush seems to think it's OK so long as Jews are murdered. Is this the Methodist Church's position? I believe God gave the land of Israel to the Jews, President Bush notwithstanding. All of it! Mr. Bush, followed by the GOP, has pushed for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the Holy Land and for a Palestinian terrorist state. How can you say this is not anti-Semitic? What would Jesus say to Mr. Bush? He hates Jesus' people, doesn't he?

Joseph, you wrote: "the palestinian people have major grievances agaist the west to uproot the palestinians from their home land and give it to the jews of europe...." Joseph, you live in Leesburg, Fla., Seminole country. Have you ever considered the fact that you live on Native American land? Do you own property in Leesburg Joe? Do you own a home in Leesburg, Fla.? Do you know about Andrew Jackson's wars against the Native Americans in Florida? Will you give up your home and your property to the "real owners" of your land? Will you move back to Europe where you belong, you interloper you? Come on Joseph, be honest with me. Aren't you and illegal occupier of Native American land?

methodists occupying? Every time this happens we should make life for the palis harder. We should stop selling the terrorist palis water,food,electricity and medical care. Let us be as bad as the anti semites think. We can also close all methodist property in Israel.

Congressman Waxman disregarded the fact that the entire Palestinians people is under crule and unusual ocupation. He is the one that is one sided not the charge. The goal of the Church is to make its members aware of the ocupation what so boardering with anti semitisim. The ocupation is nothing to do with the Jewish relegion but has to do with Political decision that an Israeli government took when decided to implement illegal settlement on other people estate. I would recomand Mr. waxman to read President Carter last book about the Ocupation. apperently meny of the Church members have read the book and thats the results. This new policy of awarness by the church is only by the New England part of the church . The issue of divestment is under consideration before the National Board of the Church whether to divest all over the Churchs in the USA. sorry Mr. Waxman your rederict just isnt working.

The fact that the New England Methodists have chosen to single out Israel, the one and only Jewish state, for critique and potentially damaging action, when many of the other players in the region (and the world) engage in equally troublesome behavior is what makes it anti-semitic. It is anti-semitic in effect if not in intent. As an example, in many of the Arab-Muslim countries that surround Israel, women are routinely denied basic civil and human rights. They are denied freedom of movement (forbidden to drive, must prove they have father's or husband's permission in order to travel, may have to be accompanied/shadowed by a man while traveling), freedom to self-expression (e.g., to dress as they wish, especially in public, no free press), are subject to terrorism and arbitrary murder/assissination urder the pseudonym of "honor killings" -- often by such brutal and cruel and unusual means as being stoned to death or having their heads sliced off in front of jeering public crowds (for example, in Saudi Arabia), they have been denied access to rudimentary education and prevented from becoming literate, and they have even been denied any access to even basic health care or hospitalisation (under the Talian). Now, are you going to tell us that this kind of persecution and oppression is not at least as bad as any suffered by Palestinians in the territories? And are you going to tell us that persecuting and severly oppressing people because of their sex, because they happen to have been born a woman, is somehow more permissable or less deserving of our attention, concern, and intervention than persecution and oppression because of one's ethnicity or religion? The point is, if Methodists and others are to be credible in their claims that their actions are biased and not informed by, or a perpetuation of the legacy of Christian anti-semitism, then they need to understand the impact and implications of their choices and be much more even-handed in their attention, concern, critique, and actions. Think about it. p.s. Nope, as much as we might wish the claims of severe anti-women persecution were untrue, and as difficult and painful as it may be for some well-intentioned Arab or Muslim people to admit, especially publicly, all of these claims are true and can be documented. Instead of disputing their veracity, research it and let's work together to promote basic human and civil rights for all of our sisters, regardless of religion, ethnicity, nationality, etc.

don't draw the conclusion that all Methodists are anti-semitic. Their leadership sure seems to be with this decision, but the average Methodist in the pews is a different story. There will be lots of protestations from them about this decision. But overall, Methodism, with its once-proud tradition, is increasingly becoming leftist. Same thing with many of the other main-line Protestant religions. It's very awful to see this happening.

I love it when Abe Foxman uses the anti-semite canard. According to him practically everyone is an anti-semite these days. When he's not using that term he's calling everyone the next Hitler or a neo-Nazi. The net result is that most people kind of chuckle and secretly laugh when they are lambasted with one of these descriptors. I myself don't mind it at all as long as you call me Mr. Anti-semite. Afterall the wisdom of my years demand it. Shalom!

Last I checked, Israel had completely withdrawn all of its people from Gaza, and has been attempting to remove itself from the West Bank for some time. Don't blame Israel for Arafat's foolish and selfish rejection of Barak's agreement to withdraw from all of Gaza and 95% of the West Bank (with a land swap to make up for the remaining 5% and compensation to Palestinians who chose not to become Israeli citizens in 1948). Or perhaps you are one of the people who would deny the Jewish people any right or opportunity whatsoever to self-determination and peace. That, certainly, would be anti-semitic and Judeophobic.

Arab Israelis have the exact same rights as Jewish and other Israeli citizens (e.g., to vote, to have empowered & proportional representaion in government, to have judges sit in secular and religious courts, to own and opperate businesses, to free public education, to universal health care, to travel, to read and write in a free press, to demonstrate in group protests, etc.). How many of the Arab states can say the same of a Jew who might want to live there (or already does)? How many of these rights would a Palestinian nation allow to Jews who want to live there (or already do and always have, for example in Hebron, one of Judaism's holy cities)? That is, of course, if any Jewish person were even allowed to set foot in a Palestinian nation-state, especially under Hamas. Want to talk about equal rights? Okay, let's talk about equal rights! Oh, and what about the nearly one million Jews from Arab nation-states, and all of their offspring, who were expelled and made refugees, finding a place to live only in Israel? Will Methodists (and Palestinians) argue for their rights, too?

1. Israel is a republic just as the US is. 2. Israel is a democracy just as the US is. In a democracy some people agree others disagree. It is a given. In addition, culturally the Jews are self-critical. What the anti-Semites traditionally have done is bringing up a Jew(s) who disagrees with the majority of Jews as an excuse for their own anti-Semitism. 3. Israel is not in Micronesia but in the worst neighborhood on this planet. To blame the Jews or the democratic Jewish state of Israel and leaving the rest of the Arab world blameless is anti-Semitic. 4. If the Metodists want to demonstrate their impatiality they need to boycott the 22 brutal, ugly Arab dictatorships first and only than the democratic Israel. The Methodists must measure the neighborhood by the same yardstick and if they do not then they are discriminatory and anti-Semitic. 5. The Israeli right is not radical. The Israeli right is realistic just as the US has become more realistic after the 9/11 tragedy. 6. What do you think we would do in California had the Mexicans been firing the rockets at San Diego on a daily basis? Do you think we would give them Southern California as the reward for their terrorist actions? Please rest assured, if the Mexican had behaved toward us in California as the Gazan Arabs who define themselves Palestinian there would have been no Mexico left as we know it. 7. The Israeli restraint is ridiculous and it invites more terror. It is too bad that the Methodists side with those who want to wipe out the Jews and the Jewish state when Israel is the home for over 1M Arabs. There are NO Jews living in Gaza and most Jews were killed or expelled from the rest of the Arab states. When will the Methodists boycott the Arab states and their cruel actions?

If that were not true, they would publish the names of the 20 largest Methodist-owned businesses in New England, thereby giving American Jews the opportunity to refuse to patronize them. Not a boycott - it's all about choice and free will. C-mon, Aldrich - name them!

we are always victim...WHY. ...will you anti semites be happy if i am made into a soap bar again?

Whitewashed tombs. Sons of the Devil. Vipers. Hypocrites.

you've taken things WAY out of context. Not only that, if you're going to talk about name calling, what about the things he said about gentiles? Plus, everything he said is in keeping with what other Jews said in the scriptures. And God himself used even worse descriptions for the Jews. It's fine to denounce what the Methodists are doing, but play fair, please.

The fact that Hillary Clinton AND George and Laura Bush are all Methodists should tell you guys how much diversity there is within the Methodist denomination. Please quit lumping all Methodists together. And a pox on those Methodists who voted for the divestment. To the other Methodists who don't support the divestment decision, it's time to roll up your sleeves and become activists within the denomination, agitating for change and sanity and removing the anti-semites from power.