International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists

All Blog Posts Tagged 'Netanyahu' (13)

Knesset Conversion Bills - A context. By Joan Garson

Chevre

Our challenges continue with respect to the Conversion Issue in Israel. I will summarize here the current state of affairs. As you all know, MK David Rotem introduced a bill (Rotem I) in July to give authority de jure in Israel on all conversion matters to the Chief Rabbis.

The Reform Movement, in partnership with the Jewish Federations of North America…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on December 16, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

ARZA US statement on ruling of municipal chief rabbis on renting to “gentiles”

ARZA (Association of Reform Zionists of America) reacts with alarm to a recent report that 50 leading Israeli municipal chief rabbis, all employed by the State, have signed on to a religious ruling which forbids renting homes to gentiles - a move particularly aimed against Arabs.

This ruling comes just months after the Chief Rabbi of Safed initiated a call urging Jews to refrain from…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on December 9, 2010 at 9:30pm — No Comments

PM blasts rabbis' calls not to sell apartments to non-Jews. By Jonah Mandel and Ben Hartman, The Jerusalem Post

Forty-seven state-employed rabbis have signed a statement, made public Tuesday, which quotes the halachic stance against renting or selling a house or plot of land to a non- Jew in Israel.

“In response to many people’s questions, we hereby reply that it is prohibited by the Torah to sell a house or a field in the Land of Israel to a gentile,” the letter begins before proceeding to quote…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on December 8, 2010 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Disaster in the North: 40 dead as fire rages in Carmel Mountains By Amiram Cohen, Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz newspaper

Forty people were killed on Thursday as a huge brushfire continued to rage across the Carmel Mountains in northern Israel, killing and injuring dozens, among them prison guards and firemen.

Some 13,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the north and Israel called for international aid as the fire blazed out of control, fanned by easterly winds following a month of near record temperatures for the…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on December 3, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Thousands march in Tel Aviv against loyalty oath bill. By Asaf Shtull-Trauring

Hadash MK Dov Khenin warns concept of a population transfer of Israel's Arab citizens has turned from a nightmare into an operational plan.

Thousands marched in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening in a joint Jewish-Arab protest against the cabinet's approval of a controversial amendment to the citizenship bill, requiring non-Jews seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

The demonstrators marched carrying signs reading "Jews and Arabs…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on October 16, 2010 at 10:00pm — No Comments

The Jewish Republic of Israel

Remember this day. It's the day Israel changes its character. As a result, it can also change its name to the Jewish Republic of Israel, like the Islamic Republic of Iran. Granted, the loyalty oath bill that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to have passed purportedly only deals with new citizens who are not Jewish, but it affects the fate of all of us.

From now on, we will be living in a new, officially approved, ethnocratic, theocratic, nationalistic and racist…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on October 11, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Message from Rabbi Gilad Kariv, IMPJ director

This past week was a week of great challenges as we stood together, one strong Jewish community, struggling over the face of Israeli society. I am happy to update you that thanks to our joint efforts, we were successful in stopping the Conversion Bill from going to a vote this Wednesday.

Currently, Netanyahu has declared he does not support the bill and has expressed his intention to form a special committee to promote a dialogue around these burning issues - recognition of…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on July 20, 2010 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Important follow-up on the Conversion Bill

Anat Hoffman, chair of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), sent out a follow-up email after yesterday's request for people to email a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the controversial Conversion Bill. Please read below for the email.

Dear Friends of IRAC,

Thank you for your immediate response to our call to action yesterday against the Conversion Bill. We have received thousands of signatures and letters, and we…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on July 13, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Anat Hoffman's letter to IRAC members - Request to write to the Prime Minister

In The Pluralist today's (the newsletter of the Israel Religious Action Center), Anat Hoffman wrote of the controversial events of the past two days - her arrest and the Conversion Bill. Her letter includes a request for help from the Jewish community worldwide - to put pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu (see letter below her email).

Dear Friends of IRAC,

Today appeared to be an excellent day for the ultra-Orthodox hegemony here in…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on July 12, 2010 at 7:11pm — No Comments

An open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

For 2000 years, Judaism has treated Jews-by-choice the same as Jews-by-birth. We are taught "as soon as a convert emerges from the mikvah (ritual bath) she or he is Jewish for all purposes." (Talmud, Yevamot 47b). For 62 years, since its founding, the State of Israel, through the Law of Return, has welcomed Jews from around the world as citizens in the world's only Jewish state.

Today, legislation before the Knesset - a bill sponsored by MK…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on July 12, 2010 at 6:30pm — 1 Comment

Reform Jews write to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the Conversion Bill

The international Reform community is united in its dismay at the recent events relating to the Conversion Bill. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, and Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly in the United States, have penned a letter in response to the latest news. Their sentiments are supported by the World Union for Progressive Judaism, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, the Central Conference of American Rabbis,… Continue

Added by Arzenu Admin on July 12, 2010 at 6:00pm — No Comments

PM backs dialogue on conversion bill ‘to ensure unity'. By Jonah Mandel

The Jerusalem Post, June 5, 2010. In his first public statement regarding the controversy surrounding Israel Beiteinu’s proposed conversion bill, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday assured the heads of the Masorti (Conservative) and Reform movements in Israel in a written communiqué that “any legislative…

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Added by Arzenu Admin on June 5, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Why IRAC opposes the Conversion Bill

At the end of April, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and MK David Rotem of the Yisrael Beiteinu party traveled to New York to meet with the heads of the North American Jewish community and convince them to accept the bill. Ayalon and Rotem were unsuccessful.… Continue

Added by Darryl Egnal on May 27, 2010 at 1:30pm — No Comments