The Israeli Supreme Court has criticised the government for not taking action to open a non-Orthodox prayer section at the Western Wall, despite an agreement made almost eight months ago .

Israel’s highest court was due to hear a motion filed against the Western Wall Heritage Foundation back in 2013.

However, Judge Miriam Naor, President of the Supreme Court, took the opportunity to criticise government representatives for the state’s neglect in creating a permanent egalitarian prayer area.

Israeli newspapers reported that Judge Naor asked whether the government was hoping the court would intervene “to pull the government’s chestnuts out of the fire.”

At the end of January, the a deal was signed to open a permanent area of the Western Wall for pluralist Judaism, after three years of negotiation. However the government has so far done nothing since to implement the agreement.

Yizhar Hess, executive director of Israel’s Masorti movement, told The Times of Israel it was “a shanda [embarrassment], a mistake, that the government cannot implement its decisions.

“We went to negotiate with the Israeli government and we conducted a very serious negotiation and it was signed”, said Mr Hess.

“We reached an agreement. Now, after you signed an agreement, you need to go to court to implement it?”

Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Executive Director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, told Ha’aretz: “The prime minister, in the last year, enabled the ultra-Orthodox politicians to take the issue of the Western Wall hostage."

“The court gave the state a yellow card”, said Rabbi Kariv.