A group of 150 North American Orthodox rabbis has come to Israel on what is being called an “emergency mission” to protest the Israeli government’s policies in the peace process.
The U.S. and Canadian rabbis, members of the Rabbinical Council of America, are launching their protest campaign with a group of Israeli rabbis in what they say is a “first-ever joint effort” of its kind.
The head of the delegation, Rabbi Moshe Gorelik of New York, has warned that, as a result of the government’s policies, some congregants in synagogues affiliated with the RCA are beginning to change the way they donate money to Israel.
Gorelik, who is president of the RCA, said some Orthodox Jews are shifting their money away from traditional channels, such as the United Jewish Appeal and Israel Bonds, and are beginning to donate to private foundations that funnel money to the territories.
The rabbis were planning to meet here this week to adopt a strategy to protect the Jews in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to discuss the unified status of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty.
“We are deeply troubled by the direction” the accord between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel “is taking regarding Jewish residents and communities in the territories,” Gorelik said.
Gorelik defended the involvement of American rabbis in Israel’s internal affairs, saying their children and those of their congregants live in the areas made vulnerable by the government’s policies.
“They (the children) came at the express invitation of the Israeli government and with our blessings, and we are entitled to clear-cut answers about their fate,” he said.
Gorelik said he fears that aliyah from North America will drop as a result of the “profound feeling of alienation and discontent with the government’s policies toward Jewish communities in the territories.”
He also said the group came, in part, to “reduce the level of rhetoric on all sides and find room for reasonable dialogue.”
The Rabbinical Council of America is the largest Orthodox rabbinic body in the world, with a membership of more than 1,000 rabbis.
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