Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism in North America, strongly criticizes the cancellation of the Western Wall plan and the new conversion law.
In an interview with News 2, he claimed that “the Reform movement alone has about two million people in North America, and together with the Conservative and other non-Orthodox streams, this is the majority of Jews in the United States and Canada.
“These decisions simply pushed Diaspora Jews out, delegitimizing those who stand up every day against the BDS, UNESCO resolutions and the delegitimization of Israel.”
He said it was impossible to distance the American Jews and tell them to ignore what the government is doing, “the two can not happen at the same time. We want to strengthen the connection and nearness, but the Israeli government repeatedly chooses the rights and desires of the ultra-Orthodox, and ignores the vast majority of Jews in Israel and around the world. It’s not smart, and it’s not something we can accept.”
He said that the Reform movement in North America was a partner in the formulation of the Western Wall plan that was canceled yesterday in the government.
“We worked for the last four years together with the Prime Minister and we reached a good compromise – a year-and-a-half ago, the decision was made under his leadership.
“Freedom of religion is not a favor – it is a right in a Jewish-democratic state,” Jacobs concluded. “There should be freedom here to be a Jew in any way one wants, and there are many legitimate ways.
This is the reality in many places in the world, and we will not rest until this is the reality in Israel as well.”
