Jerry Nadler Slams Israel’s Western Wall ‘Insult’
Image by Getty Images
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.
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.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
