The Republican Jewish Coalition and the Emergency Coalition for Israel have rejected a joint appeal from two national Jewish organizations to sign a “unity pledge” on how to treat Israel in political debate.
The two conservative groups rejected the National Pledge for Unity proposed in mid-October by the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League.
“This effort to stifle debate on U.S. policy toward Israel runs counter to this American tradition,” RJC executive director Matt Brooks said in a statement. “Accordingly, the RJC will not be silenced on this or any issue.”
The ADL said there “has been some distortion” of the ADL and AJC appeal.
“The pledge is not intended to discourage raising questions about a candidate’s support for Israel or the policy decisions of the current administration regarding Israel,” ADL national director Abraham Foxman said in a statement. “Our principal concern in calling for the pledge is to put Israel ahead of politics to reinforce the broad-based support of the American people for Israel and to project it as bipartisan whenever possible.” — jta