Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jerry Nadler Slams Israel’s Western Wall ‘Insult’

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat who represents the most heavily Jewish district in the nation, has been bombarded by angry calls over the Israeli government’s decision not to create an egalitarian prayer space at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

“People are outraged,” Nadler said. “This is a direct declaration by the government of Israel that non-Orthodox Jews in Israel and in the United States are irrelevant. It’s a total insult to the entire community. The message is basically, ‘we don’t care about you.’”

According to Nadler, the decision is most disturbing because, “the angriest phone calls I’ve received are from the people who care most about Israel and are most involved in advocacy.”

The Western Wall issue, Nadler says, has been raised in many conversations by Jewish-American lawmakers and their Israeli counterparts.

“This is about how the Israeli government regards the majority of American Jews,” he said. “It’s hard to think of a more harmful thing they could have done.”

The damage, he warns, is real – and it could intensify worrying trends that are already visible when it comes to support for Israel among young American Jews. 

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Explore

Most Popular

In Case You Missed It

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.