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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's narrow coalition government, propped up by two ultra-religious parties, is butting heads with liberal streams of Judaism that dominate Jewish life in the United States — widening a rift that risks further alienating American Jews at a time of growing U.S.-Israel estrangement.
The dispute is forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a balancing act in which he must at once please American Jews and placate the Orthodox members of his government. American Jews comprise the world's second largest Jewish community and have provided Israel with moral support, lobbying and fundraising for decades.
But while most observant American Jews identify with the Reform and Conservative movements, Israeli religious affairs are dominated by stricter Orthodox law. Reform and Conservative rabbis are not recognized, and their movements are largely marginalized. Most Jews in Israel, while secular, follow Orthodox traditions.
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