United Church of Christ: Where They Stand on Israel

This page records specific public conduct. It does not claim knowledge of private beliefs or motives.

Documented record

• June 30, 2015: On June 30, 2015, the United Church of Christ's 30th General Synod voted 508-124 (roughly 80%, exceeding the required two-thirds) to pass the "Just Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" resolution calling for boycott and divestment from companies — naming Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, G4S, and Veolia Environment — profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, and expanded the target list to "any direct or substantive indirect holdings in companies profiting from, or complicit in, human rights violations arising from the occupation." We are calling and urging all UCC-related entities to stop bringing wood to the fire of this conflict of human rights," said the Rev. Richard Edens, chair of the committee that recommended the resolution for passage (per ucc.org's own account of the Synod floor proceedings). Source 1 Source 2

Context and response

A separate resolution at the same 2015 General Synod seeking to formally label Israeli government actions "apartheid" failed to reach the required two-thirds threshold, receiving only 312 of 607 votes (51.4%) — the denomination declined to adopt that harsher characterization even as it passed the divestment measure.

Where Galil stands

Our opinion: We don't stand behind institutions that vote to boycott and divest from companies doing business with Israel while leaving Israel's security concerns entirely out of the resolution — even as the same body, to its credit, declined to go further and brand Israel with the "apartheid" label.

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Sources manually reviewed 2026-07-27. Corrections and later context will be appended to this page.