Liberal Jewish leaders slam Netanyahu’s ‘scandalous’ GA speech
Leaders of liberal Jewish sects in Israel react with skepticism to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, saying similar past promises had not been fulfilled.
“We have a long and complicated history with Netanyahu’s promises in his speeches in GA conferences over the years,” Yizhar Hess, CEO of the Conservative Judaism movement in Israel, says in a statement.
Yizhar Hess (2R), Executive Director and CEO of the Conservative Judaism movement seen at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem as he arrives to a court hearing regarding the Western Wall deal, January 14, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“It seems that in front of an audience comprised mainly of North American Jewish representatives, the prime minister feels comfortable promising that very soon Israel will become paradise for Conservative and Reform Jews. In the meantime, we haven’t seen the promises being translated into reality,” Hess says, adding that he is nonetheless “optimistic” about the completion of the Western Wall egalitarian section.
The head of the Reform movement in Israel, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, slams the speech as “scandalous” and accuses Netanyahu of failing to acknowledge his part in creating the crisis with Diaspora Jewry.
“As of now, all of his promises to promote respectful treatment of all Jewish sects have remained on paper, while ministers and coalition members, also from his party, continue to coarsely disparage Reform Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora,” Kariv says in a statement.
“If the prime minister continues to ignore the significant damage caused in recent years to the fabric of relations with world Jewry, he is betraying his national responsibility,” he concludes.