Responding to “United Church of Christ resolution condemns Israel for treatment of Palestinian children,” the Coalition for Jewish Values issued the following statement:

The UCC has engaged in ongoing demonization in place of dialogue. Arab children fortunate enough to be born in Israel or the Palestinian territories enjoy lower infant mortality, the highest college graduation rate, and some of the highest life expectancies in the Middle East. This tendentious resolution focuses only upon “torture and ill-treatment of detained children” without even a moment’s consideration of why it might be that a minor might be detained in the same democratic country that advances their lives, livelihoods and educations. We reject the apparent contention of the UCC that a 13-year-old murderer or attempted murderer should be exempt from detention, verbal intimidation or imprisonment simply because he is a “Palestinian” — and his victims were Jews.