What We Should Expect From CJP

According to the latest communication from Boston's Combined Jewish Philanthropies, in response to our discovery that that organization had funded such overly anti-Israel groups as the Unitarian Universalist Association and the American Friends Service Committee, a representative maintained that their vetting process was "sound."   Considering an organization's mission statement as definitive in regards to its policy and activities vis a vis Israel is naive at best.

We beg to differ.  There is nothing "sound" about funding groups that:

• Actively support Hamas support groups like The International Solidarity Movement (UUA).
• Actively support BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) campaigns (AFSC).
• Actively support Israel Apartheid Week (UUA).
• Refuse to allow pro-Israel groups and speakers a place at their events (UUA and the AFSC).

We do not believe that our CJP intentionally supports these anti Israel groups.  The temptation of accepting funds earmarked for groups that routinely denigrate and de-legitimize Israel must be resisted.   Donor Advised Funds (DAF's) must conform to the overall mission statement of the CJP itself:   "Our Israel agenda will focus on advocacy, connection and impact."  

Chaos engulfed the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation earlier this year when it supported the screening of the  the intensely propagandistic anti-Israel film, "Rachel", by the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which selectively recounted the life and tragic death of Rachel Corrie, an ISM member accidentally killed in Gaza while shielding weapons smuggling tunnels.  Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the SFJCF and supporter of the film's screening, has since moved on to become CEO of The New Israel Fund and was a keynote speaker at last October's J Street Washington conference.

                     Daniel Sokatch of the New Israel Fund

Hoping to avoid such divisive controversies in the future, the SFJCF has since adopted a set of guidelines governing support and funding of organizations that conflict with the organization's mission statement on Israel.


We believe that the Boston CJP must adopt and enforce similar safeguards against the support and funding of overtly anti-Israel groups, including donations via Donor Advised Funds.


These must include donations and support for organizations that:

• now, or in the past, have - through publications, speeches, films and other presentations - directly or indirectly supported the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state.
• have hosted predominantly anti-Israel speakers and failed to host a balanced number of pro-Israel speakers.
• have advocated the "one state solution" (which implicitly advocates the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state).
• have advocated and/or supported Boycott, Divestment or Sanctions (BDS) initiatives or petitions against Israel.
• presented or supported anti-Semitic speakers or events.
• have funded - directly or indirectly - individuals and/or organizations that support U.S. State Department designated terror groups such as Hamas. 
• have depicted Israel as "an Apartheid state" and/or participated in "Israel Apartheid Week.

 Considering the groups that CJP has funded recently who are clearly anti-Israel (as a Jewish and democratic state), adoption and enforcement of such guidelines are essential to maintaining CJP's mission of defending and supporting Israel at a time of unprecedented existential threats.