The Zionist Federation has criticised the authors of an “open letter” to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling on him to endorse the Goldstone Report on Israel’s action in Gaza.

The letter, with nearly 700 signatures and published in The Times on Tuesday, said that British Jews did not “speak with one voice” on Goldstone.

The signatories welcomed the Goldstone Report, calling it a “key document” and “regretted” the government’s failure to endorse the report at the UN General Assembly. They also condemned what they called the “vilification” of Mr Goldstone. Six organisations supported the letter.

But the ZF said that it was “bemused” to read the open letter, saying that “it would be astonishing if the Prime Minister believed that 270,000 Jews spoke with ‘one voice’ about anything.

“He will appreciate that most of the signatories have little connection with Jewish organisations and only self-identify for the sole purpose of public vilification of Israel.”

The Goldstone Mission, said the ZF, “was created by a biased mandate; its composition was not even-handed; the 12,000 missiles and Kassams fired at Israelis for eight years prior to the action in Gaza get hardly a mention”.

It added: “The vast majority of British Jews accept that Israel’s action was both necessary and proportionate and salute the skill of those who carried it out.”