New Delhi: The United State’s Presbyterian Church has voted to recognise the Israel’s strikes on Gaza as a genocide.This is the country’s largest Presbyterian denomination. It has also decided to divest from Palantir Technologies and General Electric Aerospace over their ties to Israel’s military and intelligence services, reports Democracy Now.The report quotes Reverend Fahed Abu Akel, a Palestinian American who used to be the moderator of the Presbyterian Church. Akel survived the 1948 Nakba, or mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s founding.“We have been silent on the destruction of most of the schools, universities, hospitals, mosques and churches — you know, one church was Orthodox, Catholic and also Baptist — all of which were done with our American-made weapons and dollars. Siblings in Christ, in the name of the living Christ, we cannot be silent on this matter any longer,” he is quoted as having said.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the US’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, has welcomed the decision.The Presbyterian Church has long since advocated for peace in Palestine, taking a clear stance on Israel’s role.Earlier this year, a post on their website quoted Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the church’s General Assembly and the Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, said, “The current situation is heartbreaking, and I imagine it breaks the heart of God to see those created in God’s image suffer in this way.”The outlet Christian Century reported that the American Academy of Religion also adopted a Resolution in Solidarity with Gaza on June 23 condemning the Israeli government for the war in Gaza, calling it a genocide as well.The association has 6,000 members worldwide. It referred to the war at its Annual Business Meeting in Atlanta as a “scholasticide,” or an “intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system.”Since October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led activists perpetrated an attack on Israel, Tel Aviv’s offensive in Gaza has killed 73,098 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025, Israel’s attacks continue almost daily.