Chairman Natan Sharansky of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel responded to Interior Minister Aryeh Deri's rejection of Reform Judaism, Tuesday, during a special session of the Knesset Committee on Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs in honor of Aliyah Day.
Sharansky said, “I may not be as pious as the Minister of the Interior, but I observe Shabbat and attend an Orthodox synagogue. And I say clearly that I will not give up on a single Jew or a single immigrant. I say to all Jews, without distinction, that I want them and their prayers and their rabbis here in Israel. There is room for all of us here, and we must tell all Jews who support us abroad and all who wish to immigrate to Israel that they are wanted and accepted among us.”