Symbolic Gestures

So, it's back to work.  As much as I'd like to talk more about the World Cup or my journey on the Appalachian trail with Jack, or just the blessings of a vacation that didn't exactly go as planned.  I've got to talk about Presbyterian stuff.  There was a decision made by the 221st General Assembly that was, in some ways, more controversial than the decision regarding the definition of marriage.  This decision involves Israel, and in today's global political situation Israel is the biggest hot button out there.
The decision was not really that big a deal in the grand scheme of things: divesting the relatively limited investments of the Presbyterian Church (USA) from three US based companies that have been involved in activities that directly profit from the occupation of Palestinian territories by Israeli settlements.  These three companies are: Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard and Motorola.  These are all massive, billion dollar corporations, who are barely going to feel the PC(USA) pulling their investments.
This move is not going to effect any sort of change.  It's not going to change the heart of Benjamin Netanyahu or the people who are engaged in the six thousand year process of "inheriting the Promised Land."  It's not going to cause these corporations to turn their backs on a viable revenue stream.
All it's really going to do is make a whole bunch of people angry and emotional, it's going to damage our relationship as body with our Jewish neighbors who see Zionism as the true expression of God's plan for his chosen people.  It actually puts us in the camp of the minority voices, among the Jews and among our fellow Americans.
But those voices are there, even among Israelis.  Voices that say that the status quo of the relationship between Israel and Palestine is unjust and should not continue.  We have added our two-cents, for what it's worth.  We have thrown in with a very narrow minority of people in the world who support the nation state of Israel, but not unconditionally.
There are people out there who would see Israel destroyed, no doubt.  There are also people who have no problem tiptoeing along the path of genocide in defense of Israeli sovereignty.  We are, as a body, seeking some middle ground, which is mostly what Presbyterians do.  I know, it's not exciting and it makes you think that maybe we've strayed a bit from our Scottish head-banging roots, but the world is complicated, and doing the right thing usually isn't easy.
If you're going to take a stand on something as emotionally charged as Israel's place in the world, you're going to tick some people right off.
The question is: are you angering the "right" people?
If you're challenging people who are clinging to an extreme position, fundamentalists on either the left or the right, you're probably doing the right thing.
If you're stepping outside the simple and doctrinaire solutions that can be compressed into compelling sound bytes, your're probably doing the right thing.
If TV news anchors seem mystified by the whole thing and maybe even a little hostile to you, you're probably doing the right thing.
If you are speaking for the helpless and the powerless, for the dispossessed and oppressed against systems of injustice that have been crushing them for generations... well you're definitely doing the right thing.
This particular action has been brewing for a decade, if not longer.  It is extremely precise and designed to minimize collateral damage.  We're not boycotting Israel, or Israeli companies.  We are not pulling our support from anyone who does business in Israel/Palestine, only from three, American companies, who have been found to profit from very particular ventures that are directly related to the occupation of Palestinian land by Israeli settlers.  It should be noted that we have asked them to stop, but we don't have enough clout.  We have requested dialogue, but important parties involved don't want to talk.
So now we take a symbolic stand, which we only took by the narrowest of margins, because it's really all we can do.
About the only thing you can do in a situation this complicated is look at who is on your side and who is shouting at you.  That will tell you an awful lot about where you stand.