(JTA) — The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston will retain J Street as a member, despite a challenge on technical grounds.
The council voted Wednesday night to retain its 41 active groups as members, including J Street and the Boston Workmen’s Circle, which some members of the council said are not pro-Israel enough, the Boston Globe reported.
In its opposition to J Street’s membership, the media watchdog group CAMERA claimed there was a by-laws violation because J Street took over the seat of its allied organization, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom. CAMERA also objects to J Street on ideological grounds, saying it accepts money from critics of Israel and associates with activists who support divestment, but based its opposition on the by-laws infraction.
CAMERA has threatened to leave the council over the vote to retain J Street, according to the Boston Globe.
In an unscientific poll on the website of the Boston weekly newspaper the Jewish Advocate, 1,653 people voted to expel J Street from the council and 1,005 voted to retain the group as part of the council.
Workmen’s Circle angered some in the Boston Jewish community when it rented space for a panel discussion to activists who favor the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.
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