AJCommittee Urges Jerusalem Mayor To Codemn Shavuot Attack By Ultra-Orthodox Mob And Statements Of Deputy Mayor

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 1 July 1997

In a letter to Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, the American Jewish Committee protested, in the strongest terms, the "deplorable actions of a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews at the Kotel on Shavuot and the statements of your Deputy, Haim Miller." The letter urged the Mayor to condemn the actions of the haredi mob and repudiate the remarks of the Deputy Mayor following the incident.

The letter to Mayor Olmert was signed by AJC President Robert S. Rifkind and Executive Director David A. Harris. It reads, in part:

"In response to acts of hillul haShem and desecration of the Kotel, Mr. Miller joined those who condemned the Conservative Jews for the incident. According to the report in the New York Times of June 13, Mr. Miller said, 'The very fact that the Conservative Jews, who symbolize the destruction of the Jewish people, came to the place that is holiest to the Jewish people is a provocation. They have no reason to be in this place.' He added, 'Whoever holds the integrity of the Jewish people dear to his heart will fight to the end so that Conservatives will not have a place in the State.'

"Mr. Mayor, you cannot allow such statements to go unanswered. For nineteen years, from 1948 to 1967, Jews were prevented from praying at the Kotel by Arabs. Now, Jews are being harassed and threatened at the Kotel by other Jews. Surely the Israel Defense Forces did not unite Jerusalem in 1967 so that one group of Jews could exclude others.

"We urge that you, as Mayor of all the people of Jerusalem, condemn the actions of the haredi mob that threatened and injured a group of Jews who had come to pray and to celebrate the Festival. Moreover, we strongly urge you to repudiate the statement of Deputy Mayor Haim Miller.

"Finally, we ask you to assure us that when the members of the American Jewish Committee and other American Jews come up to Jerusalem they will be protected from harassment and violence and will not be told by Municipal officials that they are provocateurs and have 'no reason' to be there and 'no place' in the State of Israel."

The AJC has placed advertisements in The Jerusalem Report and Yediot Aharonot, in English and Hebrew, to bring attention to its recently-adopted Board of Governors Policy Statement which expressed "our mounting concern over the trend of developments regarding the religious establishment in Israel."

The policy statement calls for "a reversal of this trend" and for "an Israel that is hospitable to all expressions of Judaism."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org