Israeli minister refuses to meet Reform Jews — report

9 February 2016, 2:33 pm

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Interior Minister Aryeh Deri is refusing to meet with representatives of the Reform movement in France during his upcoming visit there, the ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar Hashabat reports.

Deri is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Jewish community in the Paris Great Synagogue later this week. When Reform leaders asked to also be present at the meeting, he refused, the report says.

According to the report, the Reform representatives will not be present at the meeting.

Deri and other ultra-Orthodox politicians have in recent weeks piled scorn on non-Orthodox streams of Judaism in response to an initiative that would see the opening of a special egalitarian prayer area at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.