As concerned members of the Greater Hartford Jewish Community and ardent supporters of the State of Israel, we are disappointed that the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), an arm of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, is co-sponsoring an upcoming program with J Street.  Despite J Street’s pro-Israel rhetoric, J Street’s actions demonstrate that it is not pro-Israel.
We take particular note of J Street’s strong support of the odious Goldstone Report and that J Street regularly draws a moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas.  J Street has also linked the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with security concerns for American soldiers.  Moreover, many of J Street’s donors and supporters, such as George Soros, are notoriously anti-Israel.
We understand that the JCRC desires to be inclusive of a wide range of Israel related organizations and opinions.  However, this is a slippery slope and we ask the JCRC where its politics of inclusion would end.  Would the JCRC invite members of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to speak to our local Jewish community?  After all, some of the members of the BDS movement claim to be “pro-Israel.”
One can be an honest and solid supporter of Israel and still criticize her actions.  However, J Street has repeatedly gone beyond mere criticism and has demonstrated by both words and deeds that it is not pro-Israel.  Undoubtedly, J Street will use its co-sponsorship with the JCRC to lend legitimacy for its views.  We believe and suspect the majority of the greater Hartford pro-Israel community would agree that It is regrettable that the JCRC is providing J Street a platform to promote views that are antithetical to Israel. Therefore, we strongly urge the JCRC to immediately sever its relationship with J Street.

Sincerely,

Bruce A. Adelstein
Yoram Ben Naim
Michael Black (M. J. Black)
Aaron and Sylvia Cheerman
Roger Cowen
Paul Filstein
Edward Freeman
Jonathan Freeman
Thomas Freund
Ernest and Sally Gelb
David Gerrol
Rabbi Joseph Gopin
Mr. and Mrs. S. Halpern
Renana Kadden
Joan and Hal Kadish
Shayne Green Kessler
Ellen and Les Lindenberg
Yulis and Raisa Margolin
Leonid and Irina Margulis
Israel and Rachel Markowitz
Stephen Mendelsohn
Brett and Nancy Meyer
June S. Neal
Marvin Peyser
Len and Lana Rozovsky
T. R. Schreiber
Vera Schwarcz
Mark Schwartz
Arie Shteyntsayg
Boris and Masha Stambler
Alan Stein
David Wolpaw
Sergey Yelevich
Arnold and Ruth Zackin
Mark and Lorie Zackin
H. Zamstein