SWC Appalled by World Council of Churches Election of Rev. Jerry Pillay as General Secretary

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is appalled – not surprised – by the election of Rev. Jerry Pillay as General Secretary of the WorldCouncil of Churches (WCC), which claims it represents some 500 million Christians in 110 countries.

In an era of expanding rapprochement between Arab nations and Israel the WCC has chosen a leader who has long perpetuated the biglie accusing Israel of being an apartheid state.

Speaking to an event of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2014, he advocated for the extreme anti-peace and anti-Semitic BDS(boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement. Pillay has spoken of the “exclusionary and violent character of the Israeli Zionist project,” and denied the historical link between the Jewishpeople and its homeland since Biblical times. Then in 2016 he decried the alleged influence of “Jewish leadership” on European powers to allow for the creation of a Jewish state “on the land ofPalestine.”

“All this is hardly surprising,” observed Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center, and its Director of Global SocialAction. “The WCC has shown systemic bias and hostility to Israel since its creation in 1948. It has shown disdain for Israel, as well as for Christians who support her. Jewish organizations havereached out again and again to WCC to moderate its stance on the Israel/Palestinian dispute. Now instead of working to build on the historic Abraham Accords the WCC choose Pillay as their topleader.

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, the Center’s director of interfaith affairs, pointed to what he called the chutzpah and ludicrousness ofPillay’s self-defense against those calling him out. “Pillay wrote, ‘There is absolutely no merit or value to this preposterous and absurd claim [of being anti-Jews (sic)]. I sincerely value andcherish my Jewish friends and the Jewish community and faith.’ Claiming to cherish the Jewish faith while ignoring the connection between Jews and their Land is the equivalent of professing lovefor all Christians – except for those who believe in Jesus. Nothing but empty words.”

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations withover 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin AmericanParliament (Parlatino).