'We need allies, not just more security cameras': Reform movement head Rick Jacobs on the growing ‘isolation’ of U.S. Jews

'We need allies, not just more security cameras': Reform movement head Rick Jacobs on the growing ‘isolation’ of U.S. Jews

From Haaretz Podcast by Haaretz

July 7, 2026 · 39 min · Season 1 · Episode 520

About this episode

Rabbi Rick Jacobs discusses the growing isolation of U.S. Jews under the Netanyahu government and the implications for liberal Judaism in Israel.

The far-right religious Netanyahu government is doing its best to “push away” liberal non-Orthodox American Jews from Israel, said Rabbi Rick Jacobs , leader of the U.S. Reform movement, on the Haaretz Podcast. “We’re not going away. We’re actually leaning in,” he said. “You can’t trade in non‑Orthodox Jews for evangelical Christians. We’re stuck, you’re stuck with us, we’re stuck with you – we’re the Jewish people.”  During the era of negotiations over the 2016 historic compromise between non-Orthodox movements and the Israeli government over an egalitarian plaza at the Western Wall for mixed-gender prayer, Jacobs said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – and the premier’s close advisers – were in regular contact. Today, he said, “it has been years” since there has been a phone call – let alone a meeting – between the leader of the largest American Jewish membership organization and the Israeli leader – and, nearly a decade after the collapse of the compromise effort, the government is moving legislation through the Knesset that would not…

People in this episode

Guest: Rick Jacobs

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U.S. Reform movement, Israeli government

Places: Western Wall, Israel, U.S.

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