Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and American Academy of Religion Call Gaza War a Genocide

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, voted on June 30 to recognize Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide. The vote at the denomination’s general assembly in Milwaukee passed 454-15. Two days earlier, the denomination unanimously voted to divest from Palantir Technologies and General Electric Aerospace over technologies used in the war. The denomination also called on Presbyterians to lobby Congress for an arms embargo against Israel and to boycott Israeli products that contribute to the war.

PCUSA said its divestment decision reflects the two corporations’ active roles in conflicts that have drawn condemnation from humanitarian groups. According to a UN report, Palantir, a data analysis and technology firm that provides militaries with artificial intelligence, has used its technologies to support the Israel Defense Forces since October 7. Al Jazeera reported that Palantir’s software has been instrumental in interpreting data to develop “kill lists” for the Israeli military. PCUSA wrote that General Electric provides Israel with engines and manufacturing components that have been used in military assaults that human rights organizations have deemed war crimes.

Separately, the American Academy of Religion adopted a Resolution in Solidarity with Gaza on June 23, condemning the Israeli government for the war and calling it a genocide. The association of religious studies scholars, which has 6,000 members worldwide, referred to the war at its Annual Business Meeting in Atlanta as a “scholasticide,” or an “intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system.” According to a news release, the motion was approved by 98 percent of members.

Since the war began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by the Palestinian Authority. Almost a third of the reported casualties have been children, according to a United Nations Human Rights Council investigative body. The UN says 2 million Gazans are displaced and that many Palestinians are suffering from starvation, dehydration, inadequate shelter, poor sanitation, environmental exposure, and other continuing risks caused by the war. Protecting children who cannot protect themselves is a concern that runs through the reporting on these figures (Psalm 82:3).

Israel has repeatedly denied the genocide claim, and the religious organizations’ resolutions add to growing criticism accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The International Association of Genocide Scholars, a group of 500 members that includes Holocaust experts, accused Israel of genocide last year. Last month, a UN commission reported that Israeli forces deliberately shot at Palestinian children’s “vital organs using precision weapons such as quadcopters and snipers,” and it concluded that Israel is “intend(ing) to destroy the existence of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the report “a propaganda piece as outrageous as its previous ones” and “libelous,” the Washington Post reported.

PCUSA noted that GE’s materials have also been used in alleged war crimes in Yemen and in the forced migration and re-education of China’s Uyghur population. It said Palantir’s technology has been used in human rights violations against asylum seekers in the United States. The denomination’s divestment is not its first such action. In 2014, it divested from Caterpillar, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, and Motorola Solutions, which had provided Israel with equipment used in the occupation of Palestinian territories. In 2024, it voted to divest from Israel bonds and approved a resolution denouncing Christian Zionism. The denomination had begun considering divestment from GE and Palantir that same year.

Marcella Glass, chair of the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment, said in an interview that her committee began “focused engagement with Palantir and GE Aerospace on human rights concerns in conflict-affected” areas in 2024. That engagement included dialogue and filing shareholder resolutions with both companies. “Despite our engagement, both companies continue to provide products or services to customers that are credibly accused of human rights or international humanitarian law violations with no sign of slowing down or changing course,” Glass said. The committee therefore recommended divestment. She said that if either company ended its contracts “with customers connected to human rights violations” or stopped “providing services connected to such violations,” the committee would recommend removing it from the divestment list to a future general assembly. “We pray that this action motivates both companies to take a hard look at their connections to human rights violations and end these practices,” Glass added.

Jessica Rosenberg, associate director of religious and cultural organizing at Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group, said in a statement that PCUSA’s decision “marks yet another important milestone in the growing movement to hold the Israeli government and military accountable.” It is unclear how the recent PCUSA and American Academy of Religion resolutions will be received by mainstream Jewish leaders and groups. Before PCUSA’s 2014 divestment vote, Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, asked the denomination to reconsider, claiming that “a vote for divestment will cause a painful rift with the great majority of the Jewish community.” The Union for Reform Judaism declined a request for comment.

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