Student protestors have something to say about Israel — why aren’t we listening? 

This fall, returning college students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza are once again calling for “divestment,” which for them means the removal of institutional investments sustaining Israel’s more than 57-year-old illegal military occupation of Palestinian territory and abuses of Palestinian human rights. And once again, many members of Congress and media commentators are attacking the students and impugning their motives. 

This approach not only misreads the moment but overlooks some surprisingly relevant history that lends legitimacy to their demands. 

A decade ago, three Christian denominations had already taken steps to rid their stock portfolios of companies that assist Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands and other violations of international law. 

In 2014, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA voted to divest from the Caterpillar Corporation due to its specially designed bulldozers, used to destroy Palestinian homes and olive groves. They also voted to divest from Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard. Just weeks ago, Presbyterians divested from Israeli bonds. 

Also in 2014, the Board of Pensions of the United Methodist Church sold its shares of stock in a security firm used by Israel; in 2016, it added a screen against investment in five Israeli banks that had helped finance settlement construction in the West Bank. In April of this year, the United Methodist General Conference also overwhelmingly recommended divesting from Israeli bonds. 

And in 2015, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ passed, with an almost 80 percent supporting vote, a resolution calling for “divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.”  

In every case, these moves have been couched in language that indicates they are targeted at ending complicity in human rights abuses. Even so, they’ve drawn the ire of Israel’s backers, many of the most ardent of whom are other Christians.  

Some believe Israel is uniquely blessed and related to the imminent return of Jesus Christ. To oppose Israel in any way is to reject God’s plan. Other Christians defend Israel mainly as an act of atonement — what the late Jewish theologian Marc Ellis called the “Ecumenical Deal.” Absolution for past crimes against Jews is given to those Christians who support a Jewish state.

And yet these Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists, traditional Mainline denominations that hold a significant place in the American story, have nevertheless taken that risk to speak out. Along with the historic peace churches — Quakers, Mennonites and Church of the Brethren — they have publicly declared their opposition to the way Palestinians are treated, doing so not just with words but by how they invest their money. 

It’s no secret, however, that these denominations don’t want to seem too far out of the mainstream. Thirty-eight U.S. states have passed legislation designed to prevent boycotts and divestment in support of Palestinian rights. So why take this step? 

The primary reason for challenging America’s unconditional support for Israel is personal experience. Simply put, those Christians who have seen Israel’s brutal military occupation of Palestine with their own eyes can’t dismiss it. Missionaries who have spent years in the Holy Land have been pleading within their networks to come and see what’s happening. Palestinian Christians corroborate reports of human rights abuses.  

While many of the student protesters have not visited Palestine or witnessed firsthand the myriad injustices Palestinians endure under Israel’s oppressive rule, they seem motivated by the same desire to see Palestinians living in freedom and an end to Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza, with its mass killing and deliberate starvation of civilians and other war crimes. They are part of a long and honorable tradition of student activists who protested against the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa, using many of the same tactics as their predecessors, including protests and occupying university buildings. Despite these admirable intentions, the students have been subject to vicious attacks, censorship and repression by politicians and university administrations. 

Given the distorted media coverage around the protests this past spring, it’s not surprising that this has become the favored interpretation of the entirety of campus activism by many members of Congress and others, and this despite Jewish students often being found at the center of these protests. Another interpretation is needed. The fact that a number of churches have divested in the past, and are continuing to do so today, could be a place to start.

Both groups aim to lift up a vision of a better world and both resist efforts to suppress their thinking about what can and cannot be done. When we hear students insisting that their institutions not profit from an unjust military occupation and grave human rights abuses, it’s time to give deeper attention to what, exactly, they are speaking out against. 

John Wagner is a United Methodist minister and a former co-chair of United Methodists for Kairos Response.