Israelilawmakers on Wednesday advanced a bill that would place the Western Wall under the exclusive authority of the Chief Rabbinate, effectively restricting non-Orthodox worship at the site’s mixed-gender prayer section.
Located in the Old City of Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967, the Western Wall is the last remnant of the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
It is the holiest site at which Jews are permitted to pray by the rabbinate.
The plaza includes three prayer areas — the largest for men, another for women, and a smaller mixed area which is disapproved of by the official Israeli rabbinate, dominated by the ultra-Orthodox.
A bill introduced by far-right lawmaker Avi Maoz that would give the Chief Rabbinate full authority over all sections passed a preliminary parliamentary reading on Wednesday, with 56 lawmakers voting in favour and 47 against.
The legislation would define any activity contrary to the rabbinate’s directives — including non-Orthodox forms of worship — as a “desecration”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not present for the vote.
At the heart of the dispute lies the prayer area known as Ezrat Yisrael, established to accommodate mixed-gender worship.
Several non-Orthodox Jewish movements — predominant among Jewish communities in the United States but a small minority in Israel — worship at the site but complain that it is hard to access and poorly laid out.
Seeking to make a gesture to theAmericanJewish community, a previous Netanyahu government had voted in 2016 for establishing the mixed-gender area, but backtracked the following year under pressure from its ultra-Orthodox allies.
Source: Insider Paper
