CAMERA Responds to PC(USA) Vote
Breaking: The PC(USA)’s General Assembly approved a significantly altered version of the Middle East Study Committee Report. More details will follow, but here is CAMERA’s response signed by CAMERA Executive Director Andrea Levin:
The Committee for Accuracy In Middle East Reporting in America has been paying close attention to the events at the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly in Minneapolis, with a particular emphasis on the report submitted by the Middle East Study Committee (MESC). The original version of this report offered a highly partisan and distorted view of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
This is not what the PC(USA)’s General Assembly asked for when it created the Middle East Study Committee in 2008.
CAMERA is heartened by the General Assembly’s efforts to perfect the report. The General Assembly’s committee on Middle East Peacemaking engaged in a good-faith effort to correct the problems with the MESC report. Problems remain, but if PC(USA) leaders follow the process outlined in the overture passed by the General Assembly today, the church will embark on a process by which it can arrive at a comprehensive—and factual—understanding of all the factors contributing to the continued existence of this tragic conflict.
This is what the PC(USA)’s General Assembly asked for in 2008.
CAMERA hopes that this is what the church will receive in the years ahead.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Double Standards: Boycotts and Discrimination in MassLive
May 16, 2025
Anti-Israel activists, including Harvard University’s Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor, seem to struggle with the concept of “discrimination.” Quoted in a May 14 MassLive article, “Harvard ‘failed to respond’ to 450 discrimination complaints. Staff hand-delivered [...]
Swarthmore Students Are Learning: It Was Never About Palestinian Rights
May 14, 2025
Students at Swarthmore College are so close to understanding the conflict. An article in the Swarthmore Phoenix details the frustrations of student activists with the college’s Students for Justice in Palestine. The gist of their criticism is [...]
AFP Arabic Stops Mislabeling Northern Israeli Communities ‘Settlements”
August 10, 2021
A view of Metulla, northern Israel (Photo by Hadar Sela)After failing to set the record straight last May when Agence France Presse's Arabic service repeatedly referred to Jewish communities in northern Israel as "settlements," the [...]
NY Times Praises Ilhan Omar’s Book While Glossing Over Her Antisemitism
August 19, 2020
A recent New York Times book review boosts Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) autobiography while glossing over her antisemitism. In the paper’s Aug. 16, 2020 edition, NYT reporter Christina Cauterucci writes: The memoir offers breathing room [...]
When TV Interviews of Ilhan Omar Constitute Journalistic Malpractice
August 11, 2020
Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) documented animosity toward Jews and Israel was ignored in recent interviews by MSNBC and C-SPAN. MSNBC’s The Beat for July 23, 2020 included host Ari Melber’s 10-minute conversation at 6:16 [...]
Boston TV Station WCVB Teamed Up With Terrorist Supporter CAIR
July 7, 2020
WCVB-TV (channel 5) (Boston’s ABC network affiliate) recently misled area viewers about a matter involving antisemitic propaganda. This occurred on its local Sunday show Cityline hosted by Karen Holmes Ward who is described by the [...]
Harper’s Magazine Echoed Palestinian Propaganda Condemning Israel And America
June 2, 2020
Writing in Harper's, Kevin Baker condemns the U.S. Middle East peace plan [“The Striking Gesture,” Easy Chair, May 2020], mischaracterizing it as, “Give up all your [Palestinian] hopes and your holiest places, embark on a [...]