According to its official website, Sabeel "strives to develop a spirituality based on love, justice, peace, nonviolence, liberation and reconciliation for the different national and faith communities."
In particular, the group aims to "promote a more accurate international awareness regarding the identity, presence and witness of Palestinian Christians as well as their contemporary concerns.
"[2] Sabeel, which advocates "morally responsible investment,"[3] has been described by its critics as promoting an anti-Israel agenda, including divestment from Israel.
Canon Dr. Richard K. Toll, the Chair of Friends of Sabeel—North America [10] denies those allegations, writing that "the state of Israel is not above criticism and needs to be challenged when its policies are wrong.
"[12] The Genuine Hope: Two sovereign and fully democratic states This scenario envisages the total withdrawal of Israel from all the occupied territories including East Jerusalem according to United Nations resolutions 242 and 338.
Indeed, the ideal and best solution has always been to envisage ultimately a bi-national state in Palestine-Israel where people are free and equal, living under a constitutional democracy that protects and guarantees all their rights, responsibilities, and duties without racism or discrimination.
The clergy members are able to experience "the Separation Wall, illegal settlements, checkpoints, confiscated and demolished homes, refugee camps, and environmental degradation".
It cultivates the support of American churches through co-sponsored regional educational conferences, alternative pilgrimage, witness trips, and international gatherings in the Holy Land.
[19] Friends of Sabeel chapters also exist in Canada,[20] the United Kingdom,[21] Sweden,[22] Denmark,[23] Norway,[24] Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia.
[23] In 2010, Friends of Sabeel-North America circulated a list of ten companies to boycott titled “All I want for Christmas is an End to Apartheid,”[25][self-published source?]
[28] He also accused "an ad hoc group made up of Sabeel representatives and UCC officials" of becoming unduly[29] involved in the resolution process.
[30] The Israeli Stephen Roth Institute claimed that Sabeel "commonly engages in blatant propaganda seeking to isolate and demonize Israel, while delegitimizing the right of the Jewish state to exist."
In his 2001 Easter Message, Ateek wrote the ‘Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily’ and likened the occupation to the stone blocking Christ’s tomb.
Given the role this imagery has played in promoting violence against Jews, and its use in reference to the Jewish state is inexcusable.Van Zile bases these accusations on fragments from Ateek's 2001 Easter message, such as, “in this season of Lent, it seems to many of us that Jesus is on the cross again with thousands of crucified Palestinians around Him ...The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily,".
[35] Van Zile also accused Ateek of breathing new life into what French historian Jules Isaac called the “teachings of contempt” and having directed their "vile energy" toward the Jewish State.
They have published a statement affirming their belief that the ancient Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus, and that neither Palestinians nor Israelis have a "vocation for suffering"[37][self-published source?]
Jacoby argued that "Sabeel and Ateek's denunciations of Israel have included imagery explicitly linking the modern Jewish state to the terrible charge that for centuries fueled so much anti-Jewish hatred and bloodshed" and that "In Ateek's metaphorical telling, in other words, Israel is guilty of trying to murder Jesus as an infant, of killing Jesus on the cross, and of seeking to prevent his resurrection.