AIPAC Leaders Warn Netanyahu Of ‘Crisis Of Faith’ On Western Wall
Image by Getty Images
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Three AIPAC leaders reportedly told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “we have lost the incentive to act for Israel” and of a “crisis of faith” among American Jews in the aftermath of the freezing of the Western Wall agreement.
Outgoing president Lillian Pinkus, her successor, Mort Fridman, and managing director Richard Fishman also said at the emergency meeting Thursday that activists and donors have threatened to stop working with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee over the controversy, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Thursday evening.
The leaders spent about a day in Israel and left Thursday night after their meeting with Netanyahu, The Times of Israel reported.
AIPAC has not commented on the meeting.
On Wednesday, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which represents more than 50 national Jewish groups, in a letter to Netanyahu said that a lack of unity between Diaspora Jews and Israel over the Western Wall agreement “could lead to an erosion of support.”
On Sunday, the Israeli government voted to suspend most of the compromise passed in January 2016 by the Cabinet dealing with the status of the non-Orthodox section of the Western Wall.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Dive In
-
Fast Forward From ‘October 8’ to ‘The Encampments,’ these new documentaries illuminate the post-Oct. 7 American experience
-
Fast Forward Jews at Tufts are furious over ICE seizing a pro-Palestinian grad student. But they’re wary of joining protests for her.
-
Fast Forward Federal spending cuts could affect aid for Holocaust survivors and kosher Meal on Wheels deliveries
-
Fast Forward Pennsylvania Jewish groups condemn ‘genocide’ slogan on Gisele Fetterman’s charity
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 3
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
- 4
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion I co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. Trump is making the threat worse
-
Fast Forward From ‘October 8’ to ‘The Encampments,’ these new documentaries illuminate the post-Oct. 7 American experience
-
Fast Forward Jews at Tufts are furious over ICE seizing a pro-Palestinian grad student. But they’re wary of joining protests for her.
-
Film & TV How Marlene Dietrich saved me — or maybe my twin sister — and helped inspire me to become a lifelong activist
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.