US, Israel Jewish leaders demand right to pray in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM – Leaders of liberal American and Israeli Jewish movements are demanding the right to pray at a Jerusalem holy site and say the Israeli government's lack of progress on giving them those prayer rights is "unjust and insulting."

Israel announced in January it would expand and officially recognize a special mixed-gender prayer area at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It's the holiest place where Jews can pray. That plan has since stalled amid opposition from the ultra-Orthodox.

The liberal Reform Movement is the largest American stream of Judaism.

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union of Reform Judaism, said Monday "we can wait no longer."

In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jacobs and leaders of Reform and Conservative movements announced they would file a lawsuit in Israel's Supreme Court.