AIPAC leaders hold emergency meeting with Netanyahu over Western Wall crisis
The meeting was held to try to contain the growing backlash by liberal Jews against the government decision
Leaders of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to discuss the controversial decision to freeze a plan for mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall.
AIPAC, short for the American Israeli Political Action Committee, sent a hastily-organized delegation to sit down with the Israeli premier in Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported.
The meeting was held to try to contain the growing backlash by liberal Jews against the Israeli government decision, which froze an agreement to establish a permanent pluralistic prayer area next to the Western Wall.
Located in Jerusalem's Old City, the Western Wall is among the holiest Jewish sites in the world.
The AIPAC delegation included outgoing president Lillian Pinkus, incoming president Mort Fridman and Vice CEO Richard Fishman, said the Times of Israel.
Meanwhile, a US congressional representative from New York called on the prime minister to honor the original deal for a mixed-gender prayer site at the Western Wall.
Along with the Western Wall motion, the Israeli cabinet decided earlier this week to support legislation that would guarantee an ultra-Orthodox monopoly over conversion to Judaism. Non-Orthodox rabbinical conversions would not be recognized by the state.
Both measures set off a firestorm of criticism among secular and progressive Jews. According to Channel 2, AIPAC was concerned that the Western Wall and conversion bill decisions would undermine activists "incentive to work for Israel" and prompted a "crisis of faith."
According to the Channel 2 report, donors and senior officials were threatening to quit AIPAC over the issue.
Yet a source who was privy to the meeting said "there was no discussion... about the impact of the decision on AIPAC internally, nor was there any suggestion that there was a crisis of faith, nor was there any suggestion that there was a lack of incentive to support the pro-Israel position in this country," the Times of Israel reported.
AIPAC did not discuss what was discussed at the meeting.
Channel 2 added that various Jewish congressional members had warned the Israeli government that decision was "baffling" and "damaging."
Back stateside, Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey, whose constituency in New York is home to a large Jewish population, called on the prime minister to honor the Western Wall deal forged in January 2016.
"As a member of Congress who has advanced the US-Israel relationship throughout my career, I strongly urge the Government of Israel to reverse its decision to suspend the previously approved plan to create a pluralistic prayer pavilion at the Western Wall," the Times of Israel reported.
"The majority of Jews around the world consider Israel their ancestral homeland, and Israel should provide an opportunity for all Jews, men and women, to have egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall," she added.