PC(USA) names the genocide — and divests from Palantir

On Tuesday evening, June 30, at its 227th General Assembly in Milwaukee, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted 454–15 to recognize Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide. The measure also calls on Presbyterians to lobby Congress for an arms embargo against Israel and encourages members to avoid products from Israeli companies that contribute to the war.^{[1, 2, 4, 6]}

The assembly didn’t stop at words. In a separate action days earlier, it voted — unanimously — to divest the denomination’s holdings in Palantir Technologies and GE Aerospace.^{[5, 7]}

The divestment followed the recommendation of the church’s own Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment, which laid out its reasoning in June.^[3] As the denomination’s Palestine Justice Network puts it: GE Aerospace makes the engines for the fighter jets and Apache helicopters the Israeli military uses to strike Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and Palantir has partnered with the Israeli military — and with ICE on detention and deportation at home.^[7] The network says PC(USA) is the first institution to successfully target the two companies for divestment.^[7]

The path ran through the assembly’s committee process: the genocide overture cleared its committee 55–4 on June 24 before reaching the floor.^[2] As amended, the measure is careful about who it names — affirming that the Israeli government’s actions do not represent all Israelis, or Jewish communities around the world.^[2] “Passing this overture would let the Palestinians know that they are not alone,” overture advocate Craig Hunter told the committee.^[2]

This is what breaking the silence looks like. In a single assembly, a denomination of sincere, ordinary congregations did both of the things we ask of the American church: it named the genocide plainly, and it moved its money. Neither act required anyone to stop loving the church — it required the church to be most fully itself. To every congregation still weighing its own voice: it can be done, and you would not be first, or alone.