Shame on the YMCA

The World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations is betraying its mission and giving a bad name to Christianity.

The Geneva-based international association issued a blistering one-sided 3,000-word report on the Middle East prepared by a staff member after a November visit by representatives of Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

"The visit was prompted by serious concern over what is clearly a deteriorating situation for the Palestinians in the wake of recent aggressions by the Israeli government, its army and settlers in the Occupied Territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," the report explained.

The purpose of the trip, the report explained, was "to express our solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Palestine who are victims of a failed peace process and Israeli oppression."

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Based on the experiences of the five-day trip to the Mideast, the international YMCA representatives concluded:

• "There are systematic and widespread human rights violations being perpetrated on the entire Palestinian population. These abuses take the form of demolishing houses, shooting at ambulances, detention of people without charges, killing people without provocation and placing villages and cities under states of siege," the report said.
• "There is use of massive force against unarmed protesters and completely innocent people, mainly women, the elderly and children."

• "The one-sided nature of the conflict demands that the YMCA take the side of the oppressed Palestinian people."

Now, keep in mind, the YMCA is supposed to be a worldwide Christian, ecumenical, voluntary movement for women and men with special emphasis on the involvement of young people. Its mission is to build a human community of justice with love, peace and reconciliation.

But there wasn't much love, peace and reconciliation shown to Israel in this report.

In fact, the national director of the YMCA of the USA, Kenneth Gladish, felt compelled to write a letter to Geneva distancing his group from the world alliance report.

"The language, tone and characterizations included in (the report) do nothing to aid the true cause of peace and stability, nor do they position the YMCA for effective service across the boundaries of dispute," he wrote. "These documents are inappropriate and can serve only to inflame the long-standing tensions in the region."

Don't you just hate it when people discredit a worthwhile organization with a noble, humanitarian mission because they dabble in political conflicts they don't begin to understand?

To illustrate how out of touch the group is with reality, in an effort to backtrack from the harsh rhetoric in the original report, the world alliance later explained, "The recent report was based on the visit of an international team who for reasons of time and circumstances did not also visit Israel." In fact, judging from the group's report and itinerary, it never visited any country except Israel. But, then again, perhaps the group doesn't realize that East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho and Gaza -- all mentioned as stops -- are all physically located within Israel.

You can see all the reports for yourself at the world alliance website.

It's quite an education, really. It shows what you get when you mix a few preconceived notions with a volatile dose of propaganda.

The YMCA has been around as an international institution since 1844. It boasts 14,000 local associations -- all, I'm sure, doing great work in their communities. There are some 45 million members in 122 countries. And, frankly, a few bad apples from Argentina, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway have gone a long way to spoiling the whole barrel.

It's a shame.

Though there's been an effort to soft-pedal the report and couch its harsh language with some qualifiers, the original report -- unedited and unexpurgated -- still resides on the world alliance's public website. That is disgraceful and represents a continuing blight on the image and work of the YMCA.

Since the world alliance group didn't get a chance to examine both sides of the conflict, perhaps you would like to provide some balanced perspective with an e-mail.