Around 100 women attended the Women of the Wall Chanuciah-lighting ceremony at the Kotel on Sunday.

Knesset member Ksenia Svetlova used her parliamentary privilege to force guards to allow the entry of a large menorah into the women’s section. Guards had earlier tried to confiscate it from other activists.

The event followed a legal decision last week ruling that Western Wall administrator Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch must allow women to attend a separate government-organised celebration.

A WoW spokeswoman said their "It's my right to light" event had effectively been made a "second-class Chanucah candle-lighting ceremony,” but Ms Svetlova, a Zionist Union party representative, commended the lighting.

“Despite Rabbi Rabinovitch’s ridiculous regulations and despite the police’s shameful attempts to keep us out, we entered and held a candle-lighting ceremony where women were full participants.

“The Western Wall belongs to the entire Jewish people, women and men alike, and the time has come for real equality."