TEHRAN, (MNA) – More than 330 American rabbis, including some who occupy prominent roles in major cities, will lobby to keep members of the Religious Zionist bloc in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government from speaking in their communities.
An open letter now circulating says they will not invite members of the bloc “to speak at our congregations and organizations. We will speak out against their participation in other forms across our communities. We will encourage the boards of our congregations and organizations to join us in this protest as a demonstration of our commitment to our Jewish and democratic values.”
Netanyahu announced his proposed new government including the Religious Zionists late Wednesday, although its details have yet to be finalized.
The Zionist regime's government ministers sometimes speak at American synagogues to drum up support for their initiatives and ideas. It’s not clear if figures who are harshly critical of non-Orthodox Jews, as Religious Zionist leaders have been, would accept invitations from their synagogues even if offered. Nevertheless, the letter’s uncompromising tone and the breadth of the signatories is a signal of a burgeoning crisis in relations between Israel and the US Jewish community triggered by the elevation of the extremists, who won 14 seats in the Nov. 1 election.
The letter outlines five Religious Zionist proposals that it says “will cause irreparable harm to the Israel-Jewish Diaspora relationship”: changing the Law of Return to keep out non-Orthodox converts and their descendants; eroding LGBTQ rights; allowing the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings; annexing the West Bank, and expelling Arab citizens who oppose Israel’s government, Jewish News reported.
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