Israeli Signs Attacking Reform Jews Stir Anger, Fear — And Legal Action

A Reform rabbi prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Image by Getty Images
A banner attacking Reform Jews, hung near a shopping mall in the Israeli city of Ramat Gan, is sparking fear in Israel and legal threats from a liberal Jewish group in the U.S.
The banner, hung on Wednesday, reads, “A Reform grandfather = an assimilated father = a goy grandson,” according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. The text suggests that Reform Judaism leads to assimilation, and was hung by a Israeli national-religious group calling itself Hazon.
Reform Grandfather = Assimilating Father = Goy Grandson. Sign went up opposite Ayalon Mall in Ramat Gan. pic.twitter.com/EOGBeXfzQz
— Eylon Levy (@EylonALevy) March 7, 2019
There’s an American Jewish environmental group with that same name. On Thursday, that Hazon sent an email to its supporters, saying it had delivered a cease and desist letter to the Israeli organization. Hazon is the Hebrew word for vision.
Reform leaders warned that the banner could lead to violence against progressive Jews in Israel. In a statement, the president for the Israeli branch of the Reform movement, the Israel Movement for Reform & Progressive Judaism, called the banner part of an “incitement campaign” against Reform Judaism.
“We are not discounting the possibility that the unceasing verbal incitement against us will lead to actual violence against our members and synagogues as has happened in the past, and we therefore call on the Orthodox establishment and leaders of the Haredi political parties to publicly distance themselves from this campaign of hatred,” said Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the group’s president.
“I wanted to let you know that our lawyers have now served a cease-and-desist letter on this new ‘hazon,’” wrote Nigel Savage, the American Hazon’s executive director. “We have spent twenty years associating the word ‘hazon’ with so much that is good and right in Jewish tradition; and we indeed registered the name Hazon as a trademark, nearly a decade ago. We don’t want anyone to think that they can randomly fan flames of hatred in our name.”
(The American Hazon uses office space leased from the Forward Association, which publishes the Forward.)
The Israeli Hazon has called in recent weeks for protests against women praying at the Western Wall, and posted an anti-gay banner in Jerusalem reading, “A father and a mother = a family. The courage to be normal,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
The organization has also sponsored Facebook at text message ads, according to the Jerusalem Post. It says it aims to return “the Jewish character to the national agenda in Israel.”
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis
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!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Opinion Is this new documentary giving voice to American Jewish anguish — or simply stoking fear?
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Think every Palestinian in Gaza is Hamas? This week’s protests prove you’re wrong
-
Opinion A Palestinian Oscar-winner’s arrest shocked the world. For these Jewish activists, it was terrifyingly normal
-
Opinion In the Trump administration and Israel, a grotesque display of virility coupled with a loss of humanity
-
Fast Forward Cornell’s new Jewish president says he is ‘very comfortable with where Cornell is currently’
-
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.