JTA — The organizers of a Martin Luther King Day event in San Diego have come under fire from local Jewish groups after a rabbi said he was disinvited from speaking at the event due to his “connection to Israel.”

Rabbi Hanan Leberman, the leader of the Conservative Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego, had initially been slated to give the closing prayer at the city’s All Peoples Celebration, which was organized by a community group called Alliance San Diego.

“This year, for the 38th annual All Peoples Celebration, we invite you to Choose Courage; to decide, with intention, to do what is right even when the fear and opposition are loud,” a description of the event read. “Now more than ever, our voices must rise above hesitation. We must claim our dignity and echo the notion that any attack on one, is an attack on us all.”

But in a post on Facebook Sunday, Leberman said he was “deeply upset” to learn he had been disinvited from the ceremony, writing that the reason behind the decision was due to his “connection to Israel.”

Born in Chicago and raised in Philadelphia, Leberman moved to Israel at 20 and served for three years in the IDF’s undercover counterterrorism unit, often as its cantor. He was ordained as a rabbi in........

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