1. http://sabeel.org/documents/Arafatweb.htm

2. http://www.ucc.org/faith/barmen.htm

3. 2 Peter, Chapter 2 verse 22

But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog [is] turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Being a financial services professional, I have a reasonably good idea about how the American stock market works. Given what I know of the market's historical tendencies and current trends, I can say with confidence that the divestment movement on US campuses and mainline churches must be a sham.

If the pension fund managers of the main line churches that are considering divestment were to sell all the shares of a company targeted for divestment because it does business in Israel, they would be selling some of the most valuable holdings in their portfolios. A bad move financially. Moreover, given that the companies that do business in Israel are for the most part multi-national corporations belonging to the elite Fortune 500 or Fortune 100 groups, it is immediately obvious that other investors (individuals and institutions) would rapidly buy up the recently sold stock. Especially if the church pension fund sales depressed the price of the stock, these stocks would be purchased all the more quickly at bargain prices, and the stock would rapidly regain its value. The end result would be absolutely no negative impact on the multi-national corporations, nor on Israel.

If I know this, the pension fund managers must know this too. And one can be sure that the managers told the church leaders who are lobbying for divestment...

...The answer is given to us, perhaps inadvertently, by an Arab student at the University of Michigan. One divestment conference organizer, Amer Zahr (a U. Mich. Student activist) explained openly on talk radio the goals of divestment:

"What we want is not actual economic divestment from Israel. Everyone knows that the US will never pull investments out of Israel like that. Instead, we are looking to shift the dialogue to whether or not to divest from Israel, without extraneous discussion of the basics. We hope that in 10, 20 years the public will just take for granted the premises that Israel is an apartheid state, and then we can move from there." (1)

This revealing statement is indicative of the divestment movement's long-term goals. They have nothing to do with peace, dialogue, or education; and nothing to do with the real, factual, nature of the state of Israel and its society. The divestment campaign is meant to alter the US society's perception of Israel over a long period of time so that later, 20 years from now, the anti-Israel forces can lobby for divestment in an atmosphere in which it is .."taken for granted…that Israel is an apartheid state.”...

...Why the Arab propagandists at the Sabeel Institute encourage churches to join in the movement is clear. Having churches of any denomination participate in this effort to de-legitimize Israel lends great moral sway to the divestment movement and further undermines the image of Israel as a legitimate member of the family of nations.

But the church leaders are presumably honest, intelligent, fair-minded, unbigoted, humanitarian people who truly seek truth and work for justice in the world. Why are they so easily duped by the Arab propaganda?...