[Credit where it's due, this is a very good (though non-name-naming) editorial by local CJP president, Barry Shrage that appears in this week's Jewish Advocate. The Advocate itself also editorializes that Workmen's Circle ought to change its rental policy in order to prevent Israel-hating groups access: Reputation for rent. Here is Shrage's piece.]

Whether the metaphor you prefer is an "umbrella" or a "big tent," Combined Jewish Philanthropies has always been committed to representing our diverse Jewish community as a whole, welcoming a broad spectrum of views on just about every issue. We Jews are especially passionate on our views about Israel, so given our disagreements, it isn't always comfortable under the tent.

But as we stand together, no matter how contentiously, under our communal umbrella, a line has clearly emerged: Jewish groups calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS for short) against Israel are different. They have chosen to ally themselves with a worldwide effort, profoundly hostile to Israel, that seeks to penalize and ostracize the Jewish state through consumer boycotts against Israeli products; advocating a halt to cultural, academic and athletic exchanges and collaboration; and encouraging individuals, companies, financial institutions and religious organizations to shed their investments in Israel.

When Jews promote BDS strategies, they alienate themselves from the Jewish community. And we as a community cannot and should not offer a platform for their views.

As a general principle, CJP strives to be as inclusive as possible. An issue of communal unity emerged last spring, when CJP faced the challenge of which organizations to include in our New England Celebrates Israel event. Some of the groups requesting inclusion have missions that lie far outside the communal consensus on many issues. But Consul General Nadav Tamir and Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren agreed with CJP's decision to include them all. Our theory was that we should welcome anyone who wants to celebrate Israel. The ambassador's thinking was more profound: He argued that Israel's security depends on a strong American Jewish community - and that our strength depends on the largest possible tent, filled with Jews who are linked by strong and respectful relationships.

Our conviction is that we can't afford to lose a single Jew from our community. But the basic principles of Israel's legitimacy and the importance of Israel's safety and security underlie our connection to each other, and our respectful relationships are premised on that shared understanding.

But BDS advocates take a fundamentally hostile stand against Israel, questioning Israel's very right to exist. As historian Gil Troy has pointed out, "Underlying the latest surge in attempts to delegitimize Israel is a systematic campaign to single Israel out for special opprobrium. No country has endured such a decades-long campaign against its very right to exist, fueled by petro-dollars, ramped up by Islamist fanaticism . . . integrated into parts of Western political culture. No other country has been kept on probation for 62 years, with its legitimacy subject to good behavior, with its leaders, founding ideology and people condemned so harshly, so disproportionately."

Tellingly, the "United Call for BDS" dates the Israeli occupation as beginning not in 1967, following the Six Day War, but in 1948, when Israel was first established as a state. This is not an accident; what the BDS movement seeks is not a change in Israeli policy, but to disman- tle the state that makes those policies.

Too often in human history delegitimization and dehumanization have been a prelude to murder and genocide. At a time when the idea that Israel should be "wiped off the map" is openly advocated in world forums, a worldwide campaign aimed at demonizing Israel is a serious threat and has no place within the Jewish community.

BDS is not - as it is sometimes portrayed - a struggle morally equivalent to that of South African resistance against apartheid oppression. Rather, it is a unilaterally punitive approach toward Israel that deliberately chooses to overlook the complex responsibilities of all the parties involved to help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

BDS advocates deny Israel's right to exist. They reject Israel's role as a national home for the Jewish people. And by calling for the "return" to Israel of Palestinian refugees from 1948 and their families, they are in effect demanding the obliteration of the state of Israel.

BDS advocates have chosen to place themselves outside the realm of the honest, open and civil dialogue and debate that we, as a Jewish community can and should be having on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

There's a line, and BDS advocates are on the other side. They have no place under the "big tent" of our Jewish community.