Israel’s interior minister announced a plan to reduce the size of local religious councils. The move by Eli Suissa, a member of the fervently Orthodox Shas Party, was blasted by non-Orthodox leaders as a blatant attempt to keep Conservative and Reform representatives from serving on the councils. Suissa announced the plan after a Knesset committee rejected a bill that would block the appointment of non-Orthodox representatives to the councils.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.