Methodist Report Criticized By Anti-Defamation League

A report on Israel produced by the United Methodist Church is "distorted and mendacious," the Anti-Defamation League has charged.

The 225-page report, "Israel-Palestine: A 2007–2008 Mission Study," likens Jews to "monsters" and compares the actions of Israelis to Nazis, the group said. The group also criticized the report for using the word "terrorism" to describe Israeli actions, while the actions of Palestinian Arabs are described as "activism."

In a statement, ADL officials called on the church to repudiate the report. The study "repeatedly twists history and employs inciteful language to denigrate Israel and Jews," the group's national director, Abraham Foxman, said in a statement.

Last night, church officials defended the study.

"The United Methodist Church is not neutral on the question of military occupations," officials said in a statement. "The mission study's perspective is in keeping with the thoughtful, informed, and consistent position of the United Methodist Church on the occupation of Palestinian territories," read the statement, which was signed by the interim general secretary of the church's General Board of Global Ministries, Bishop Felton May, and the deputy general secretary of the Women's Division, Harriett Olson.

The 11 million-member church is expected to take up the issue of divesting from companies that do business with Israel at its quadrennial national conference in April.