About 100 church-based, Muslim and secular activists gathered early this year in Pittsburgh for a conference devoted supposedly "[m]oving beyond the artificial polarization of 'pro-Israel' and 'pro-Palestinian' agendas." But the conference instead focused on harsh one-sided criticisms of the Jewish state coupled with defenses of the new Hamas regime of the Palestinians and plans to make Israel into "a pariah state."

The gathering was organized by the North American affiliate of the Jerusalem-based Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. This Palestinian Christian group has "Friends of Sabeel" networks in Australia, Scandinavia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.

Co-sponsors of the event included local agencies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the United Methodist Church, and the United Church of Christ (UCC), as well as the far-left Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) caucus, the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, and several other religious and secular activist groups.

According to Sabeel founder Rev. Naim Ateek, the United States has always been aligned against the Palestinians. (File photo)
Israel, the U.S., and the West were criticized at great length throughout the conference. Rev. Naim Ateek, founder and Director of Sabeel, declared to loud applause, "The United States has never been an honest broker in this conflict; it's always been … against the Palestinians!" Ateek also denounced the Western media as being mainly "against the Palestinians," a charge echoed by other conference speakers...

...Zaru and others blasted as "the greatest deception" the "false symmetry" drawn by some between the Israeli "oppressor" and the Palestinian "victim." Noting the argument that many of the measures she criticized at the conference were necessary for security, she asked if the Israeli security forces, "with all their technological sophistication," could not "see our hearts and minds." American-born Israeli Jeff Halper declared that "Israel's national existence and security concerns have been addressed adequately by the leaders of Muslim nations and the Palestinian people. "Certainly there's no existential threat to Israel today," he claimed, so such measures as home demolitions, restrictions on Palestinian movement, new Jewish settlements, the security barrier, and the occupation were nothing more than "expansionist designs of Israeli nationalists."