Hartford — U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., fielded questions on U.S.–Israel relations and President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet picks in a wide-ranging discussion at the Mandell Jewish Community Center Wednesday.

Murphy, who has a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spent much of his time, before taking questions, talking about the U.S.' decision to abstain from voting on a United Nations Security Council resolution that declared Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.

Pointing out that past presidential administrations in the U.S. have also abstained from U.N. votes, Murphy was emphatic that the U.N. is not a "fair forum for Israel," and that discussions about a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine should happen outside of the U.N.

"If we want to draw issue with things that our friend has done, there are other places to do it. There are private conversations that we can have, maybe even public conversations," he said.

A man, who identified himself as a member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford's Community Relations Council, read a statement put out by the group — a rare occurrence, he said — on the U.S. abstaining from the vote.

"The decision to abstain undermined the core principle of American foreign policy that has been embraced by Democratic and Republican administrations for decades: that the only route to a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is through direct negotiations between the parties," the man read in part.

Murphy agreed that Israel and Palestine need to negotiate directly, but said "historically any significant move forward on a peace process has happened with the Americans as an honest broker," and that the president of the U.S. must be able "to bring both sides to the table."

President Barack Obama has not been in a position to do that, he said, and he's not sure that Trump is setting himself up to be in a position to do that either.

Trump weighed in on the matter early Wednesday, posting on Twitter: "We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore. The beginning of the end was the horrible Iran deal, and now this (U.N.)! Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!)"

Murphy echoed past sentiments he's made about the president-elect, saying he would work with Trump on issues that are beneficial for Connecticut, and fight him on those that aren't.

Other issues raised Wednesday include the high cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. A man in the audience asked whether that money could be better spent elsewhere, saying one in six people in Connecticut are in poverty. East Hartford-based Pratt & Whitney builds F-35 engines.

Murphy called the F-35 an international platform, saying the U.S. builds the aircraft with many of its allies.

"Should the United States abandon the F-35 program, well then we'd be pulling the rug out from a lot of other countries that are building that same fighter jet, and we don't actually have anything to substitute for it," he said.

"If you want to fight terrorism these days, you probably are going to end up doing recon, and doing some ordinance release from F-35s or from groups of planes that involve F35s, and so it's hard to fight terrorism without that jet," he added.

He acknowledged the program is expensive — so far, the U.S. has spent $100 billion — but said that costs are coming down year after year. To complement the F-35 investment, Murphy said he'd like the U.S. to increase the money it spends on foreign assistance "to help democracies and economies grow."

Trump has said the cost of the F-35 program is "out of control," and said he's asked Boeing "to price out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet."

It's unlikely that the program will be canceled considering that even congressional lawmakers, who have critiqued the program, have acknowledged it is too big to fail at this point. The F-35's biggest customer, the Air Force said in August that the aircraft is ready for combat.

Others in attendance Wednesday raised concerns about some of Trump's Cabinet picks and asked Murphy, who waged a nearly 15-hour filibuster to demand action be taken on gun control measures, what his next steps will be in that effort.

He pointed out that on Election Day, referendums to tighten gun laws were passed by three of four states that had such referendums on their ballots, and indicated that will be the way he and others will seek changes to gun laws in the future.

j.bergman@theday.com