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NEW YORK — Reports of new threats that Reform Jews will boycott diaspora fund-raising efforts for Israel are unfounded, said the leader of the Reform movement in the United States.

The Israeli media widely reported last week that the head of the Reform movement's Israel Religious Action Center, Rabbi Uri Regev, threatened such a boycott to protest an Israeli army ban on visits to synagogues and other Reform institutions.

But Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said Regev's reported comments were "misquotations" that reflected Regev's "anger and frustration" at the prospect of such a policy.

Yoffie said his preliminary inquiries had shown that there is no such official army policy.

"If there were to be such a policy, we would be distressed and respond in an appropriate way. But we are not inclined to make threats," Yoffie said.

The controversy comes amid growing protest by Reform and Conservative diaspora Jews over official Orthodox domination of Israeli religious life.

It also comes as the ultrareligious members of Israel's governing coalition continue their efforts to prevent an erosion of the Orthodox religious monopoly.

The non-Orthodox protest here has included some threats to bypass the central Jewish fund-raising campaign, which provides funds to Israel, and to give directly to Reform and Conservative institutions in Israel. The campaign is run annually by the United Jewish Appeal and local federations.

Yoffie himself has warned that if the mainstream Jewish establishment did not champion the struggle for religious pluralism in Israel, it would alienate the grass roots.

In a clear sign of concern, the UJA recently circulated a news release reiterating that all four major streams of Judaism support the philanthropic enterprise.

"It is important for every Conservative and Reform Jew to support klal Yisrael by making a meaningful gift to the 1997 federation/UJA campaign," it said.

The latest imbroglio started when an Orthodox Knesset member inquired about a trip taken by soldiers to a Reform center in Haifa. Knesset member Moshe Gafni, of the United Torah Judaism party, asked the military whether soldiers are required to participate in educational trips to Reform institutions, churches and mosques.

The Israel Defense Force chief of staff responded by issuing a new directive, said Gideon Mark, a spokesman at New York's Israeli Consulate.

The order said army units should not include in their educational programs visits to sites that cause any soldier to feel uncomfortable. Despite news reports to the contrary, the directive "never said anything about synagogues — Reform, Conservative, Orthodox or otherwise," Mark said.

According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, Regev responded to the directive, saying, "If it turns out that the policy is directed against Reform Jewry, we will view it as a declaration by the state that it views our sites as ritually impure."

"We are wondering whether Israel is prepared for the possibility that, in parallel, the gates of the Reform community in the U.S. will be closed to their representatives it uses to gather financial and political support."

Meanwhile, the Orthodox members of the Israeli government coalition are continuing to push their own agenda. They threatened a revolt against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the government did not take immediate action to further legislation that would reinforce exclusive Orthodox control over conversions performed in Israel.

In New York last week, Industry and Trade Minister Natan Sharansky said his party, Yisrael Ba'Aliyah, is committed to keeping the legislation as narrow as possible.

Meanwhile, Orthodox coalition members are seeking a broader version that, in effect, would not recognize the conversions of Israelis who go abroad for non-Orthodox conversions and then return.