Israel and its allies have suffered major blow after the Church of Scotland decisively rebuffed its misuse of the scriptures to claim exclusive Jewish rights to Palestine.

According to a media release by Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign,

Delegates to the Church of Scotland General Assembly have today voted to adopt a report by its Church and Society Council which challenged “claims that scripture offers any peoples a privileged claim for possession of a particular territory”. The Church report argues that it is “doubly wrong to seek biblical sanction” given “the fact that the [Palestinian] land is currently being taken by settlement expansion, the separation barrier, house clearance, theft and force”.

The Church also reaffirmed their view that the present situation in Israel/Palestine “is characterized by an inequality in power” and that Israel’s blockade of Gaza and illegal military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem must end before reconciliation is possible.

Delegates further stressed that the human rights of all peoples should be respected and that “this should include the right of return and/or compensation for Palestinian refugees”…

General Assembly delegates also endorsed the Church and Society Council General Report which notes and encourages debate around the Iona Call 2012, a response to Kairos Palestine that endorses the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) and other forms of non-violent direct action.

For the background to this, including Israeli and British Zionist attempts to bully the Church of Scotland into silence, see the following reports by Stuart Littlewood::

• Will Church of Scotland cave in to Zionist bullies?
• Church of Scotland unmoved by Zionist bullies