The United States' largest Presbyterian denomination has voted to recognise the genocide in Gaza and impose an arms embargo and divest from Israel on Tuesday, adding to another major divestment vote that was conducted on Sunday.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), also known as the PCUSA, voted to officially adopt a resolution that will have the institution identify Israel's war on Gaza as a genocide, lobby US Congress for an arms embargo against Israel and encourage its members to boycott Israeli products that contribute to its war.
The vote was 454-15.
"The overwhelming votes our church made this week…signal a major shift in public opinion on Palestine," Bob Ross, Steering Committee member of the Palestine Justice Network (PJN) of the Presbyterian Church, told The New Arab .
Ross notes that Presbyterians come from across the political divide and are located in every corner of the US, making it a politically and geographically diverse denomination.
"The General Assembly, which reflects this diversity, spoke in a unified voice against genocide and for measures that will hopefully contribute to the liberation of Palestine," Ross adds.
Reverend Addie Domske told The New Arab : "Though many individual Presbyterians have been naming the genocide since it began, the importance of the larger assembly coming together to clearly name what is happening to Palestinians, both in Gaza and the West Bank, allows our collective church to more effectively participate in the larger movement for Palestinian liberation, especially the BDS movement."
Commissioners also voted in favour of a resolution to affirm Kairos Palestine II: A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide, a November 2025 statement from Palestine's Christian community , calling for intensified international boycott, divestment and sanctions efforts against Israel. The vote was 447-21. Divestment from Palantir and GE Aerospace Tuesday's vote comes after the Church on Sunday unanimously voted to divest from the controversial tech company Palantir and GE Aerospace, which makes engines for fighter jets and helicopters used by the Israeli army in its war on the enclave.
"Economic measures, when taken by a critical mass of major institutions, can over time weaken Israel to the point where they will have no choice but to surrender to Palestinians' simple desires to be free from occupation, dispossession, apartheid, and genocide," Ross told The New Arab , noting the Church's Palestinian partners have been asking to divest since 2005.
"We'll continue to work in solidarity with our partners in Palestine until they achieve liberation and return."
The PCUSA notes GE Aerospace's role in Israel's war, as well as its role in manufacturing engines used by the Saudi Royal Air Force in its war on Yemen . "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) this week boldly chose to stand with our Palestinian siblings and divest from two companies who are grossly enabling the genocide in Gaza and who refuse to change their behaviour," Reverend Ron Shive, co-moderator of the PJN, told The New Arab .
The institution also highlighted Palantir's partnership with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in deporting people amid a nationwide crackdown on migrants, as well as aiding the Israeli military in helping to determine who to kill in Gaza.
The companies were chosen due to their role in human rights violations in the US, Palestine, India, Egypt, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia. "We have a responsibility as people of faith to leverage any powers and privileges we have to make this a more just and peaceful world for our siblings - including Israelis who are sacrificing their own humanity by carrying out this genocide," Reverend Marietta Macy, co-moderator of PJN, told The New Arab .
Reverend Macy, who called the divestment "a step in the right direction", said a message needs to be sent to the US government and to US companies that "we are not going to roll over and let them turn our home into an imprisoning surveillance state".
"I hope this divestment inspires others to act and reminds those who feel alone as American Christians that our collective power is stronger than we know," Reverend Macy added.
"We also need to send a message to our own government and to US companies that we are not going to roll over and let them turn our home into an imprisoning surveillance state."
The vote comes after two years of meetings by PCUSA's committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment.
The PCUSA was the first major institution in the world to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, including divesting from HP, Motorola and Caterpillar in 2014 and Israeli bonds in 2024.
The institution also declared Israel to be an apartheid state in 2022.