No plans for divestment from Israel

The Anglican Church of Canada has “no intention at this time” of reviewing its investment policies with regards to multinational corporations doing business in Israel, said Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, the primate, in a recent letter to the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC).

The CJC said that while it was “gratified” at the assurance Canadian Anglicans were not currently considering the issue of divestment, it had hoped for a “more explicit letter.”

“We would have been happier if those three words ‘at this time’ had not been there,” said Victor Goldbloom, chair of CJC’s national executive, in Canadian Jewish News.

In an interview, Archbishop Hutchison acknowledged CJC’s concern. “They would like some kind of guarantee that this will never be taken up,” he said. “But I can’t offer that sort of guarantee.”

Last year, the CJC expressed concern after media reports said that the Anglican Peace and Justice Network would recommend divestment as a strategy for pushing peace in the Middle East. The network’s Canadian representative – Cynthia Patterson of the diocese of Quebec – has clarified that they had not called for divestment but that some of its members had mentioned the idea in independent interviews by Ha’aretz newspaper.