JERUSALEM, Feb. 4 (JTA) — A majority of the Knesset has voiced support for a government committee’s recommendations to resolve the conversion crisis in Israel. Sixty-five Knesset members, including four from the National Religious Party, signed a letter of support for the Ne’eman Committee recommendations. The letter was submitted Wednesday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who expressed hope that the Chief Rabbinate’s council would endorse the recommendations. The council is slated to discuss the matter Monday, a day before the High Court of Justice is to hold a hearing on petitions filed by the Conservative and Reform movements on the conversion issue. The Ne’eman Committee, after seven months of complex and intensive negotiations, recommended last month a plan that would have the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements jointly prepare potential converts. The formal conversion would be conducted by Orthodox religious courts. While the Reform and Conservative movements have indicated their acceptance of the Ne’eman Committee’s plan, the fervently Orthodox parties in Israel — Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah — issued a joint edict last week rejecting the Ne’eman Committee’s approach. Earlier in the week, members of the Knesset Absorption Committee lobbied Israel’s chief rabbis to back the Ne’eman Committee’s recommendations.
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