A number of Jewish organisations have made very public statements critical of the rabbinic boycott of the Olympic games.

The Anti-Defamation League, for example, stated that “China is a complicated society that is changing and opening up in many ways, and one simply cannot equate the Beijing Olympics with those games in Nazi Germany on the eve of the Holocaust.”

The original petition was signed by nearly 200 US rabbis representing diverse Jewish perspectives. The Jewish backlash against this petition, however, has been loud.

Groups have emphasised the historic friendship and compassion that China has showed the Jewish people.

While not only rejecting parallels between the Berlin games and the Beijing games, groups have highlighted the fact that China was responsible for saving tens of thousands of Jews during World War II from the Nazi regime.

During the Holocaust, nearly 50,000 Jews sought refuge in Shanghai alone. Similarly, the current friendship between China and Israel was highlighted.

This controversy is by no means limited to United States Jewry, as it is a common debate throughout other Western nations and across all religious groups.

_{(Issue June 2008)}