Yesterday, in the Knesset, MK Galit Distel Atbaryan hurled an outrageous comment at Reform rabbi and MK Gilad Kariv: “Get the enlightened Reformist out, let the real Jews stay.” Her words are not only shameful and ugly, they are also deeply hypocritical.

While she dares to lecture millions of Jews in Israel and around the world on who qualifies as Jewish, the very government she serves undermines core Jewish values: mutual responsibility, the redemption of captives, and collective solidarity. Her message echoes dark periods in Jewish history. And while she speaks, her government abandons Israeli hostages, sidelines those serving in the IDF, and distances an enormous part of the Jewish people – the Diaspora – from the State of Israel.

When public discourse legitimizes the delegitimization of diverse streams of Judaism and descends into unrestrained clashes over religious and Zionist identity, we all lose. This is not merely about MK Rabbi Kariv being attacked in the Knesset; it is about millions of Reform Jews around the world who are an inseparable part of the Jewish people and of Israel.

The escalating rhetoric, and the deliberate effort by Distel Atbaryan and her allies to cast liberal Jewish denominations as “provocations” or deviations from tradition for political gain, poses a grave threat to both Judaism and democracy in Israel.

With her words, Distel Atbaryan intensifies polarization and alienates hundreds of thousands of Israelis who identify with Reform Judaism, along with millions more across the globe.

MK Gilad Kariv attending a Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, June 9, 2025. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
MK Gilad Kariv attending a Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee meeting at the Knesset, June 9, 2025. (credit: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The Reform Movement is one of the largest and most significant in global Jewry and sees itself as an integral part of Jewish life in Israel.

Just last Thursday, the results of the World Zionist Congress elections were published. The Congress is meant to represent the Jewish people in all its diversity and to express the bond between Israel and world Jewry. The Reform slate received the highest number of votes and secured first place. To exclude Reform Jews from Israeli public life is to sever the Jewish people from a vital, global part of its identity, diversity, and strength – weakening us all.

In the formal education system, instead of promoting respect for all Jewish denominations, this government drives further division, silencing legitimate voices from the Israeli and global Jewish communities. Members of the Reform Movement proudly serve in the IDF, contribute to Israeli society, and devote themselves to acts of compassion, justice, and social unity.

Yet this government chooses incitement over inclusion and division over shared Jewish identity. Even more troubling, the value of shared responsibility is trampled when Distel Atbaryan and her colleagues enable an entire sector of society to avoid military service and shirk a central role in defending our country.

Assault on democratic and Jewish Israel

The gap between declarations about “strengthening Jewish identity” and the government’s actual actions is striking and hard to stomach. Rather than embracing the full spectrum of Jewish life, we are seeing efforts to shut doors, strip communities of legitimacy, and label them as “less Jewish.”

This is a profound assault on the democratic and Jewish foundations of the State of Israel. The extreme rhetoric, marked by insults and polarization, drives us toward hatred and division, turning our parliament, our education system, and our society into battlegrounds of intolerance.

The global Reform Movement stands with Israel in the struggle against terror and evil.

It represents a Judaism that is diverse, open, and grounded in values. It sees every Jew, everywhere, as equal in their faith and their contribution to our shared destiny.

That is our strength. That is how we unite in the face of adversity.

And that is what Distel Atbaryan undermines.

Not Rabbi Kariv, not the Reform Movement, but the unity of the Jewish people worldwide. We must not allow such voices to divide us or derail the path we walk together.

We will continue to fight for a just, inclusive Israel that embraces all streams of Judaism and all communities that make the Jewish people what it is – complex, diverse, and full of hope.

We will remain steadfast and promote the Jewish values we all believe in: mutual responsibility, dignity, equality, and the redemption of captives. We will not stop until our brothers and sisters return home.

The writer is CEO of the Israel Reform Movement (IMPJ).