A group of 167 New Jersey rabbis and cantors said in an open letter on Monday that newly elected Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) had “failed our ally … and our community” with his votes in support of two resolutions last week attempting to block $8.8 billion in U.S. arms sales to Israel.

The Jewish leaders said they were “shocked,” “dismayed” and “angry,” feeling that Kim had betrayed his “numerous pledges that he would stand by our ally and his Jewish constituents,” instead voting “with the anti-Israel fringe, against our ally, and our community” in his first key vote on the issue.

“Senator Kim’s deliberate choice to side with Israel’s loudest opponents is an affront to our values, our strategic interests, and our community,” the rabbis wrote. “Senator Kim: You are on the wrong side of this issue. Your constituents are outraged. Listen to them. Stop siding with anti-Israel extremists. Stand with Israel.”

“As leaders in New Jersey’s Jewish community spanning religious denominations and political affiliations, we join together in our condemnation of Senator Kim’s irresponsible and misguided vote to undermine Israel’s security,” they added.

The organizers of the letter include rabbis from the local Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements. The letter highlights the backlash that Kim is facing from his state’s sizable Jewish community over his vote last Thursday, which began minutes after the votes concluded.

“The vast majority of our elected officials know how important these arms are to the threat Iran and her proxies pose,” the leaders wrote. “Sadly, a small minority in Congress do not understand the importance of the US-Israel relationship and seem to have accepted Hamas’ lies and propaganda. Now, knowingly or not, they are doing Hamas and Iran’s bidding and want America to abandon our ally and block these weapons sales.” 

The group highlighted that Kim’s vote marks a significant break with past New Jersey legislators, arguing that the state’s senators “have always stood with our ally to ensure it has the resources it needs to defend itself — until today.”

By contrast, they praised Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) for “once again showing true leadership” in his vote against the resolutions.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Kim referred Jewish Insider to his statement on his votes on the resolutions, in which Kim said he continues to support Israel’s defense but said that providing additional weapons “used in incidents with disproportionate civilian casualties” would make a durable peace and a deal to release the hostages more difficult.

Rabbi Daniel Cohen — a Reform rabbi who led the letter alongside Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, a Conservative rabbi, and Sam Klibanoff, an Orthodox rabbi — said that after the vote, the three rabbis felt they needed to muster as much support as possible across the state.

“I think what’s really compelling for me … is not only the fact that you have the various streams of Judaism represented there, but if you look at the colleagues, you’ve got people observance-wise who are all across the map, on domestic politics all across the map, I suspect on Israeli domestic politics all across the map,” Cohen told JI.

“To vote to withhold important tools to [Israel to] defend itself is irresponsible, particularly when Sen. Kim has voiced such strong support for the Jewish community, against Jew hatred, for the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Cohen continued. “It’s one thing to say something, it’s one thing to write something. If you’re an elected official, what really speaks about where you stand is how you vote.”

Similar letters have been published in other states since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza targeting other elected officials who have opposed aid to Israel, such as Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and former Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO).

Ossoff and Warnock reversed their stances and voted against blocking arms last week after previously supporting such efforts and facing a massive wave of in-state backlash that could threaten Ossoff’s reelection chances next year. Bowman and Bush lost primary challenges fueled in part by their stances on Israel. Kim will not face reelection until 2030.

Cohen, the New Jersey rabbi, said that he’s hopeful that Kim will reverse his stance if and when similar votes come up again in the future, and help further shrink the margin of support for the effort to block arms, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).