Over the summer, two prominent U.S. churches—the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ—adopted resolutions condemning the Jewish state for its real or imagined treatment of Palestinians. Both resolutions draw heavily on a document, produced by Palestinian Christians in 2009, called Kairos Palestine. Taking its name from the Greek word meaning “an opportune moment,” this document is nothing more than anti-Israel propaganda. Robert Leikind explains:

[Kairos Palestine] reduces the complex, painful history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to a single word: “occupation.” Information that might contradict [its] far-reaching [conclusions] is ignored. Gone from the historical narrative are Arab armies massed at Israel’s borders poised to destroy the country; . . . acts of terror that have caused thousands of Israeli casualties; thousands of missiles that followed Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza; and repeated calls by Palestinian religious, civic, and political leaders to reject peaceful coexistence with Israel on any terms. . . .

Kairos Palestine’s argument is not only political but also theological. It declares that “the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God and humanity.” Israel, it states, is the “enemy” who stands in opposition to God himself. Its “occupation,” according to Kairos Palestine, “is an evil that must be resisted.”

The document portrays the struggle between Palestinians and Israelis as one between “good” (Christian, Palestinian) and “evil” (Jewish, Israeli), between those who lift up God’s name and those who profane it. Palestinians and Israelis are each assigned their roles in this carefully choreographed drama, which, regrettably, bears a striking resemblance to storylines used to demonize Jews in past eras.