Jewish groups pull out of roundtable

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NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Jewish groups said they are pulling out of an interfaith roundtable after Christian leaders sent a letter to leaders calling for the halt of U.S. aid to Israel.

"While we remain committed to continuing our dialogue and our collaboration on the many issues of common concern, the letter represents an escalation in activity that the Jewish participants feel precludes a business-as-usual approach," the seven Jewish groups said in a letter to their Christian counterparts.

The Jewish-Christian Roundtable is scheduled to take place Monday and Tuesday in New York City. The meeting has been held annually since 2004 to address Protestant groups divesting from doing business with Israel.

The Protestants' letter to Congress -- signed by the heads of the Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the National Council of Churches USA and the United Church of Christ -- called for lawmakers to open "an immediate investigation into possible violations by Israel" of alleged use of U.S-sold weapons against Palestinians, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

The seven Jewish groups that have pulled out of the meeting are the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith International, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Union for Reform Judaism and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.