Update from IRAC

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Thank you for your impressive response to our call for action on the Conversion Bill. Your emails and letters are pouring in. More than 3,600 people have sent letters directly through the RAC site, and just today, we delivered over 7,000 signatures on 350 pages directly to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s door.

Yesterday a group of IRAC lawyers and lobbyists organized an incredible day of advocacy in the Knesset for the President of the Jewish Federation of North America, Jerry Silverman, and the President of United Jewish Communities of Metro West, Max Kleinman. They had 34 meetings, including meetings with Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, Minister of Welfare Isaac Herzog, Minister of Communication Moshe Kahlon, and dozens of other Members of Knesset. Jerry stated very clearly our opposition, and members from all factions were eager to hear our position on how this will create a major division between Israel and the Diaspora. Our presence had a big impact, and coverage in the Israeli news is skyrocketing.

The Israeli government is blown away by our collective efforts - never before have they seen such high level lobbying activity from an Israeli social change organization on behalf of Diaspora Jewry. We at IRAC are blushing with all of the praise being given to our advocacy efforts. In honor of our lobbyist Loren Poris, all donations made on-line to IRAC for the rest of the month of July will be designated to our public policy and advocacy department. Click here to donate.

Right now things are heating up. We have every reason to believe that the bill will be moving forward to a vote this Wednesday. Once it passes a first reading, it will be incredibly difficult to prevent a second and third reading and then the proposal will become law.

After our extensive lobbying efforts, we now know that there are 37 MKs in favor of the law and 49 against. The rest - 16 Likud MKs and 5 Kadima MKs - are still not committed. Many of the Likud MKs claim that they will vote however the Prime Minister tells them to, while others are even less committed.

We know that Prime Minister Netanyahu has the capability to stop this vote. The fact that the Prime Minister is prepared for the proposal to be tabled for a first reading is a clear sign in itself that despite his statements in public, he is still not ready to take the real steps needed to prevent the passing of the law.

We at IRAC are currently focusing all of our resources on blocking this bill. With all of our work around the clock - and your energetic opposition - we are becoming more and more optimistic each day.  We are so close to putting this dangerous bill to an end - but we still need your help.

More than ever, the pressure is on. If you have not yet sent a letter or a fax, please do so now. Your efforts are critical - and the need to share your opposition with your friends, family, and congregants has never been more important.

And to all of our friends in Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia - we need to let the Israelis know that this is an issue important to Jews all over the world, not just in North America.

For those from North America, please click here to send a letter to the Prime Minister now, or beginning on Sunday telephone him at + 972-2-6408457 or send a fax at + 972-2-6496659.

For those from outside North America, click here to sign our petition, or even better create a separate email by personalizing our attached letter and copying and pasting the address: PM_ENG2@pmo.co.il into a new email message.

If you’re up for being a nudnik, wait until Israeli offices are open on Sunday and Monday and email, call, or fax these MKs who we know for sure are in favor of the law.  Send them a personal message or the attached message telling them that Diaspora Jewry will not stand for this delegitimization. Please copy and paste the email addresses below into a new email message to send.

Reuven Rivlin (Likud): rrivlin@knesset.gov.il; phone: +972-2-6753444; fax: +972-2-6496193
Otniel Schneller (Kadima): oschneller@knesset.gov.il; phone: +972-2-6408383; fax: +972-2-6496742
Carmel Shama (Likud): kshama@knesset.gov.il; phone: +972-2-6408109
Miri Regev (Likud): mregev@knesset.gov.il; phone: +927-2-6408178
Gila Gamliel (Likud): ggamliel@knesset.gov.il; phone: +972-2-6408463

Please do whatever you can to help up prevent this proposal from passing. It will set back religious pluralism in Israel immeasurably and will cause a terrible rift between Israel and the Diaspora, a rift that we cannot afford. The time to act is now.

L’Shalom,

Anat Hoffman

P.S. Click here to become a fan of our new Facebook page “Stop the Conversion Bill: Keep Israel a Home for ALL Jews,” and get regular updates and pass the message on to more people. 

Dear _____ ,
 
We write to request your immediate intervention to prevent passage of the legislation being brought forward by MK David Rotem.

We are deeply concerned about the intention to grant the Chief Rabbinate sole control over conversion in Israel.  Such legislation would be an open attack on the legitimacy of non-Orthodox Jewry, which composes the majority of world Jewry.

While we are supportive of efforts to create greater accessibility to conversion courts in Israel, the overall impact of the Rotem Bill will set back these efforts. Should this bill be enacted, it will exacerbate a widening gap between Diaspora and Israel communities, which we are working very hard to avoid.

Therefore, we believe it is imperative that you, as a leader of Israel, and as one who cares deeply about the well-being of Klal Yisrael, intervene and urge immediate withdrawal of this bill.