The Movement for Reform Judaism

The delegation - Movement head Rabbi Dr Tony Bayfield, its chair, Michael Grabiner, and treasurer Stephen Moss, CBE, - met Israeli Reform rabbis, including Rabbi Michael Marmur, Rabbi Naama Kelman, and Rabbi Uri Regev, who gave the delegation a run down on the plight of the movement in Israel.

The delegation travelled to the southern town of Sderot, which has come under an almost daily bombardment of rockets from the nearby Gaza Strip. The mayor's Adviser on Diaspora Issues, Shalom Halevi, told the group that life was "almost impossible." He also said that he believed that the government, whom he blamed for the situation, was using Sderot residents as pawns in a game to show the world what happens after a withdrawal. "Would any other government allow this to happen?" he asked.

However, this view was dismissed as "highly cynical" by Lieutenant-Colonel David Benjamin - a South African-born son of the Movement, who now serves as a legal officer in the Army. He briefed the group from the top of a hill overlooking the strip, a mere 800 metres from Beit Hanoun, the launch site of most of the Kassam rockets aimed at Sderot. He stressed that every operation had to be approved legally, noting that "we fight sometimes with one hand behind our backs, but that does not mean that both hands are tied."

Prior to their meeting with President Shimon Peres on Thursday afternoon, the group met a representative of Rabbis for Human Rights, a grassroots organisation which helps Palestinians and aids Israelis with social and welfare problems.

Next week, the group is due to travel to the north to visit co-existence and pluralistic programmes supported by the Reform Movement.

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