A bill that would grant full control over the entirety of the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, to the Orthodox movement in Israel passed its first reading in the Knesset on Wednesday evening.
MKs voted 56-47 in favour of the legislation, sponsored by Noam’s Avi Maoz, which would hand full authority over prayer at the wall to the Chief Rabbinate.
The bill was proposed in response to last week’s High Court decision ordering the Jerusalem municipal government to go ahead with an upgrade to the egalitarian plaza at the southern end of the wall, where non-Orthodox and gender-mixed prayer is permitted.
The ruling was met with consternation from the Charedi parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), with Shas leader Aryeh Deri accusing the court of attempting to “desecrate” the site.
If Maoz’s bill becomes law, with only two more Knesset readings required for it to do so, the Chief Rabbinate will be granted complete authority over the Jewish sites at the wall, including the egalitarian plaza in Ezrat Israel.
The rabbinate would then be able to declare any actions contrary to its rules as a form of “desecration”, a criminal offence in Israel carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Prime Minister Netanyahu cancelled a meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation earlier this week to prevent his government from giving formal backing to the bill, but allowed members of both his Likud party and the wider coalition to vote freely.
Hailing the successful vote, Moaz said the bill would “unify the Jewish people, both those in Israel and those in the Diaspora”.
It also received support from Justice Minister (and Deputy Prime Minister) Yariv Levin, of Likud, who said it would “put an end to the High Court’s interference in the management of the Western Wall”.
However, Anna Kislanski, CEO of the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism, criticised the bill as “patronising and antisemitic,” saying: “The State of Israel is about to criminalise non-Orthodox Jewish prayer at the Western Wall. What hypocrisy.
"If such a law were to be passed in the United States, Australia or Britain, and prevent Jews from holding their prayers under threat of imprisonment for up to seven years, the State of Israel would immediately launch a fierce fight against antisemitism.”
Likewise, Women of the Wall, a group promoting gender equality in prayer at the site, called the result a “black day for the Jewish people” and claimed MKs had “divorced Diaspora Jewry and declared outright that they are not welcome and are not accepted in the home of the Jewish people”.
The vote was similarly criticised by the Progressive movement in the UK.
Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, the movement’s co-leaders, said: This proposed legislation is profoundly alarming. The Western Wall is not the property of one stream of Judaism, nor of one political coalition. It is a sacred national site that belongs to the entire Jewish people.
“Successive Israeli governments have already recognised this principle.... Advancing legislation that would effectively outlaw egalitarian worship does not simply change policy – it risks breaking faith with millions of Jews in Israel and across the Diaspora.
“We urge Israeli decision-makers to honour existing commitments and ensure that the Kotel remains a place where every Jew can pray according to their conscience and tradition.”
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