Certain MKs have been receiving bribes from the U.S. Reform
movement in exchange for their votes on legislation that
would promote further Reform incursions into Eretz
Yisroel. The scandal surfaced last week after U.S. Reform
movement officials declared that they would terminate
financial support to MKs who vote for the Conversion Law or
for the Jewish Religious Services Law (i.e. the Religious
Councils Law).
The American Reform and Conservative movements, frustrated
over parliamentary efforts to limit their participation in
religious councils and to reject their conversions, jumped
into the Israeli electoral campaign when they threatened to
withhold financial support from candidates who do not support
religious pluralism.
"We must use the power of our dollar, as well the power of
our voice, to indicate that we will not support legislators--
we will not support candidates for prime minister--who do not
have a sensitivity to the concerns of the American Jewish
community, to the Diaspora Jewish community," Jerome Epstein,
director of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, said at
a news conference in New York of Reform and Conservative
leaders.
The leaders of the movements declined to estimate how much
their members raise for political candidates.
"Those who keep their promises, we'll remember that. Those
who don't, we'll remember that, too," said Eric Yoffie, head
of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew
Congregations. They called on their members not to
contribute to any person or organization that does not commit
to pluralism and respect for Reform and Conservative Jews.
The Reform and Conservative leaders also reaffirmed their
policy of April 1997, in which they called on their 1,800
member congregations in North America to boycott MKs who
support conversion legislation. The congregations have been
asked not to extend speaking invitations to these MKs or to
support any local communal activity to which they have been
invited.
United Torah Judaism MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz has demanded an
immediate investigation to determine the identities of the
MKs who benefited from Reform financial support this past
year, and which of them are on line to receive such funds in
order to promote their candidacies during the upcoming
primaries and elections.
"I consider the Reform movement's announcement as a stab in
the back of Israeli democracy, and as severely hampering the
independence of the Knesset and the ability of its members to
legislate according to their consciences." Rabbi Ravitz wrote
to the Israeli Attorney General's office. "There is no doubt
that the taking of such money constitutes a violation of the
law. A quick investigation must be made, in order to prevent
those MKs from participating in the crucial votes pertaining
to the affairs of the Reform movement, due to a clear
conflict of interests, and the fear of alien influences."
Rabbi Ravitz also sent a letter to the speaker of the
Knesset, Dan Tichon, calling on him to do his utmost in order
to remove this scourge from the Knesset.
By the same token, Rabbi Ravitz asked the chairman of the
Knesset Ethics Committee, Yehuda Lankri, to convene the
committee immediately, and to inform MKs who have taken
bribes from the Reform movement, that they cannot participate
in voting on issues pertaining to the Reform movement, due to
a conflict of interests.
In his letter to Lankri, Rabbi Ravitz claimed that such a
decision was made in the past by the committee, when trips by
MKs to the United States, sponsored by the Reform movement,
were revealed as a form of bribe-taking.
Deputy Minister, UTJ MK Rabbi Meir Porush also demanded that
the State Prosecutor investigate the identities of those to
whom the Reform movement and their affiliates contributed
money, and check to see if these funds are recorded in the
party's records, as demanded by the law.
"To what contributions are they referring to? To the $300
which, according to the law a party is permitted to receive?
I doubt it. In my opinion, they are referring to much larger
donations, which necessitate an investigation by the State
Prosecutor, especially if they are referring to personal
contributions which the MKs will stop receiving if they vote
against those laws," Rabbi Porush said.
"This is a very serious threat. The Israeli legal authorities
must deal with them, in the same manner that one deals with
every lawbreaker who threatens MKs, in order to tip a vote in
his favor."
