Parishes across Britain are being urged to withdraw their money from the Church of England after its election to continue its current investment in Caterpillar, a company accused of destroying Palestinian homes, reports The Church of England Newspaper.
Fifteen groups have united together and have written to dozens of other churches asking them to take out their funds from the Church’s Central Board of Finance (CBF) until such a time that it ends its contributions with companies related to the occupation of the Palestinian lands in the Middle-East.The campaign has gained momentum, and Rev Stephen Sizer, the Vice Chair of Friends of Sabeel UK, has expressed his hope that the number backing the boycott could rise to hundreds.
Recently the Church of England reassured the Jewish community that it did not plan to pull out of its £2.3 million investment in Caterpillar.
The reassurance comes after the Ethical Investment Advisory Group this week reaffirmed its previous decision, taken last year, to not recommend disinvestment despite the call from last month’s General Synod.
In February the Church of England synod overwhelmingly backed the position that the Church should disinvest its money, and only place it into areas backing the common good and not merely for financial return.
However, after a special meeting to debate the issue further, John Reynolds, who is the chair of the EIAG, concluded that the investment in Caterpillar was not “so controversial among Christians as to undermine the credibility and unity of the Church’s witness”, report The Church of England Newspaper.In particular the EIAG said that there were no current or projected sales of Caterpillar equipment for use by the Israeli government, and furthermore it no longer has direct sales to the Israeli Government.
Hence the group stated that it could “find no compelling evidence that Caterpillar is or has been complicit in human rights abuses.”
Rev Sizer condemned the decision saying that the group should have visited Palestine and its Christians to see the destruction caused by the Caterpillar machines before reaching its conclusion.
The Jewish community predictably backed the latest development on the issue, with Jon Benjamin, who is the Chief Executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, saying: “We welcome the decision, which confirms the view the Synod came to last summer and follows on from scrutinising the issue and hearing from all sides through a proper investigation.”
