DETROIT — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)‘s top legislative body narrowly voted Friday to shed its investments from three American companies that supply Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The General Assembly voted 310-303 to divest from Caterpillar, which provides heavy equipment that has been used by Israel to demolish Palestinians’ homes and build roads for illegal settlements on occupied land; and Motorola Solutions and Hewlett Packard, both of which provide high-technology products and services such as surveillance systems and biometric scanners at checkpoints.
West Bank (Wikipedia)
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The vote came after hours of debate and has been a highly charged issue drawing protests from Jewish and other advocates of Israel.
The denomination has roughly $21 million in assets in the three corporations — a miniscule portion of their total market capitalization — so the measure would be largely symbolic. And while the measure affirmed Israel‘s right to exist and explicitly distanced itself from a broader campaign to target Israel with economic boycotts, sanctions and divestments, advocates say it still stigmatizes Israel and unfairly blames it for the Middle East standoff.
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