Israel : Losing Friends and Business

On July 5, 2005 in Atlanta Ga., The United Church of Christ directors voted to use " economic leverage " on Israel to promote peace between Israel and Palestine. Israel's 425-mile security wall is the reason for the policy initiative. The Church is going to have a tough time finding anything to divest. Most of Israel's assets really belong to someone else ( Palestine partitioned in U N vote in 1947 ) . For example, the Pentagon recently intervened in Israel's planned sale of radar-seeking drone planes to China. The Pentagon correctly assesed that the potential for loss of life on Taiwan and possibly American armed forces outweighed the profits to Israel .

This is not the first time Israel has sold or tried to sell American invented or subsidized products. In 2000, the US pressured Israel not to sell AWACS ( advanced warning aircraft ) to China.

In future, Israel will now have to clear any sales of sensitive technologies through the Pentagon first. Israel should stick to selling admission tickets to their holy places and also shrines of other people's religions. That kind of commerce is less dangerous to the rest of the world.