Thursday night, by what the Christian Science Monitor called the "thinnest of margins" the General Assembly of the 1.9 million member Presbyterian Church USA failed to approve a resolution requiring the church to divest its $20 million investments in Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard over the ties of these companies to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

The vote at the PCUSA's General Assembly in Pittsburgh was 333-to-331. In percentage terms, 49.85% were in favor of selective divestment from the Israeli occupation and 50.15% were opposed.

No doubt many among what Peter Beinart calls "the American Jewish establishment" celebrated the result. They had pulled out the stops to block the Presbyterians' selective divestment move. 1300 rabbis and 22,000 other Jews wrote to the Presbyterians, falsely seeking to characterize the proposed move as "the use of economic leverages against the Jewish state."

The following letter has been circulated mostly in the United States by Just Foreign Policy. It was hand-delivered to the Embassy of Ecuador in London by Just Foreign Policy's Policy Director Robert Naiman on Monday, June 25. Read the press release.

We also hand-delivered the online petition circulated by Just Foreign Policy, which has been signed by more than 7000 people. That petition - which you can still sign - is here: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/assange-asylum


June 25, 2012

Dear President Correa,

We are writing to urge you to grant political asylum to Julian Assange.

As you know, British courts recently struck down Mr. Assange’s appeal against extradition to Sweden, where he is not wanted on criminal charges, but merely for questioning. Mr. Assange has repeatedly made clear he is willing to answer questions relating to accusations against him, but in the United Kingdom. But the Swedish government insists that he be brought to Sweden for questioning. This by itself, as Swedish legal expert and former Chief District Prosecutor for Stockholm Sven-Erik Alhem testified, is “unreasonable and unprofessional, as well as unfair and disproportionate.”

We believe Mr. Assange has good reason to fear extradition to Sweden, as there is a strong likelihood that once in Sweden, he would be imprisoned, and then likely extradited to the United States.

Just Foreign Policy News, June 15, 2012
German paper: Syria rebels did Houla massacre; aid groups denounce Gaza blockade

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Go Straight to the News Summary

I) Actions and Featured Articles

Action: Urge Congress to Press Clinton on LGBT murders in Honduras
Honduran human rights groups have reported 70 LGBT murders since the June 2009 coup. The government of Honduras is a close U.S. ally; it receives U.S. military and police aid; there is a U.S. military base there. The State Department could do something about this. Urge your Rep. to sign Rep. Jared Polis' letter to Secretary of State Clinton, urging her to press the government of Honduras to investigate and prosecute the LGBT murders in Honduras. 25 have signed. Urge your Rep. to join them.
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/polis-lgbt-letter

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: Syrian Rebels Committed Houla Massacre
The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has run two articles alleging that Syrian Sunni rebels committed the Houla massacre, reporting that the victims were largely from Alawi and Shia minorities in Houla. This is important because the Syrian government has been blamed for the massacre and the massacre has been invoked as a justification for foreign military intervention.
Here are the articles: