Thinking about Suspending Support for Israel Over the Western Wall and Conversion Disputes? Think Again.

Thoughtful discussions of relations between the state of Israel and the American Jewish community were blown aside in early July, replaced by recriminations, accusations, and proposals for retribution. The immediate cause was two government decisions in Jerusalem.

The first, concerning worship at the Western Wall, canceled a compromise agreement laboriously negotiated over the past years by Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Jewish Agency, with the blessing and encouragement of the prime minister. The agreement set aside an area of the Western Wall plaza, otherwise policed by the ultra-Orthodox, that would be open to the more relaxed practices, including mixed male and female prayer groups, of the non-Orthodox branches of Judaism (mainly Reform and Conservative) that predominate in the Diaspora and especially in the U.S. The cabinet decision reneging on this government commitment was announced on June 25.

The second decision, about the procedure for conversion to Judaism, followed hard on the heels of the first and took the form of a government-backed bill in the Knesset that in effect places all conversions in Israel in the hands of the ultra-Orthodox chief rabbinate. Under its provisions, even conversions supervised by Modern Orthodox rabbis can be deemed suspect if not altogether illegitimate. In the face of vehement protest, the bill was hastily shelved for six months.