Bill to bar non-Orthodox converts from immigrating postponed

Divisive bill barring non-Orthodox practices at Western Wall back on Knesset agenda

Legislation would give chief rabbis ultimate authority at holiest site for Jewish prayer, could see non-Orthodox worship branded as ‘desecration,’ carrying 7-year jail term

A bill aimed at banning and criminalizing non-Orthodox practices at the Western Wall will be discussed in a key Knesset committee in the upcoming days, a spokesperson for the panel’s chairman Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman confirmed to The Times of Israel on Monday.

A date for the discussion has not been set yet, but it is expected to be as early as next week. The spokesperson for the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee said that usually the agenda for the following week is decided on Wednesday.

The new bill would give Israel two chief rabbis, both Orthodox, ultimate authority over Jewish holy sites, and define any activity at the site contrary to their instructions, such as non-Orthodox worship, as a “desecration,” carrying a penalty of seven years in prison.

The scope of the law would include the Ezrat Israel egalitarian prayer area, where for years, liberal Jewish movements have been holding religious ceremonies and events, albeit among many difficulties.

“Legislation that pushes out of the Jewish tent and of the Zionist tent millions and millions of Jews all over the world because of the fact that they are not practicing Judaism in an orthodox way is a disgrace for both Judaism and Zionism,” said Yizhar Hess, a World Zionist Organization vice chairman and senior representative of the Masorti/Conservative Judaism at Israel’s national insitutions, which include the Jewish National Fund-KKL and the World Zionist Congress.

“This is the least Zionist government that Israel ever had,” he added, speaking with The Times of Israel over the phone.

The bill, sponsored by MK Avi Maoz, the sole representative of the far-right party Noam, was approved in the preliminary reading by the Knesset plenum 56-47 in March, although days earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had canceled a meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in order to prevent the government from backing it in an apparent bid to avoid pushback from Diaspora Jews.

“We were promised by the Prime Minister’s Office that the bill would not pass the preliminary reading, and it did,” Hess said. The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request to comment on the matter.

“To tell you the truth, I’m not sure that [Netanyahu] really wanted to shelve it,” Hess added. “We know that Netanyahu is an effective leader when it comes to his party. So if members of the Likud voted against him, I find it hard to believe that he didn’t know or expect it to happen.”

The legislative initiative came days after the High Court of Justice instructed the government to proceed with the upgrade of the Western Wall egalitarian plaza, as Netanyahu himself had committed to years earlier.

The Ezrat Israel currently exists in a legal gray zone, technically under the authority of the ultra-Orthodox chief rabbi of the Western Wall, but permitted to operate as an egalitarian prayer space by a prime ministerial order.

Egalitarian services are held there regularly, especially for bar and bat mitzvahs, but the liberal movements have lamented the lack of proper infrastructure and recognition, as well as the impossibility of praying while touching the stones of the Western Wall, which is traditionally considered an important part of the experience.

“Today, the egalitarian section functions in a very humiliating way. It is small, not accessible, and with no toilets,” Hess said. “Basically, Israel is the only democracy in the world where Jews do not have freedom of religion.”

The attempt to ban non-Orthodox practices at the Western Wall is followed closely by Jews in the Diaspora.

“Non-Orthodox Jews, not only in North America but around the world, feel this bill is outrageous in just its particular criminalization of non-Orthodox prayer,” Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, told The Times of Israel over the phone. “It’s one thing to disagree. It’s another thing to even limit, but to criminalize with seven years in prison for praying in a mixed men and women congregation in the separate Ezrat Israel section at the Western Wall is outrageous.”

Jacobs recalled how the representatives of the Reform and other liberal movements worked with Netanyahu for years to establish the egalitarian platform as an officially recognized alternative to the main Western Wall plaza.

“Seeing the dramatic increase in antisemitism around the world, that in this moment the government is even considering such a bill, it’s unimaginable,” the rabbi added. “We Jews are standing up for Israel, making our case over and over in public settings, and what is the Jewish state doing for us?”

Jacobs explained that he and other leaders from the Reform and other liberal movements have been working to reach out to relevant actors, including Israeli ambassadors to the US and Canada, Israeli politicians, and more, to denounce the bill and ensure that it does not pass.

“We were led to believe by some in the cabinet that we don’t need to worry,” he said. “To be truthful, that doesn’t give us a lot of assurance because when it comes to matters of religion and state, the Israeli governments have had very little track record to protect our rights.”

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee will prepare the bill for its first reading in the Knesset plenum. If approved, it will return to the committee for further deliberations before being brought back to the plenum for its second and third readings, which are generally held on the same day.

However, both Hess and Jacobs expressed fear that the bill could become law, given the support it has received from coalition members.

“I’m calling not only the Prime Minister, but the relevant and more responsible members of the current Israeli coalition, to oppose [the bill] as dramatically as they can,” Hess said. “Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic.”

Bill barring citizenship for non-Orthodox converts postponed for now

The so-called Western Wall law is not the only legislative initiative aimed at curtailing the status of non-Orthodox streams of Judaism in Israel.

On Sunday, the Knesset Ministerial Committee for Legislation was slated to vote on a proposal to invalidate the legitimacy of non-Orthodox conversions in the context of potential immigration and citizenship. The bill, sponsored by Rothman, is an amendment to the Law of Return.

A pillar of Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, the Law of Return offers citizenship to Jewish immigrants, including those who have at least one Jewish grandparent and converts. For decades, Israel has accepted conversions performed by the Reform and Conservative movements abroad as sufficient for Israeli citizenship (and since 2021, following a landmark decision by the High Court of Justice, also conversions performed in Israel).

Rothman’s proposal would define conversion to Judaism, in this context, as only that carried out “in accordance with halacha,” or Jewish religious law.

However, the discussion of the bill was postponed until further approval by the Prime Minister, according to the official summary of the Ministerial Committee’s meeting.

Hess told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu persuaded the committee to postpone the discussion by 30 days. The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.

“At the time that our people who are desperately trying to leave Ukraine and come to Israel, at a time when once again antisemitism is rising with attacks on synagogues in England, in the US and Canada, this is when you say, not all of you are welcome in the Jewish state,” Jacobs said. “This is so offensive.”

Even if the bill were approved by the ministerial committee in the coming weeks, it would mark only the start of a long legislative process, which might not be completed before the current Knesset ends its term. Elections must be held by the end of October at the latest.

Yet, in light of the sensitivity of the subjects, liberal Jewish leaders remain on high alert.

“We are pushing back very hard, and the fact that [the bill] wasn’t considered seriously yesterday at the ministerial committee doesn’t make us [feel] calm,” Jacobs said.

Sam Sokol and Nava Freiberg contributed to this report.