US EditionIsrael’s parliament moves toward ban on mixed-gender prayer at Jerusalem’s Western Wall
The bill grants the Chief Rabbinate control over the Western Wall Plaza, criminalizing non-Orthodox prayer with penalties up to seven years, after a 56-47 Knesset vote.
- On Wednesday, the Knesset voted 56–47 to give preliminary backing to legislation strengthening Orthodox authority over the Western Wall Plaza, sending the bill to committee for legislative review.
- Responding to the court's decision, supporters argued the bill would limit the Supreme Court's ability after the Supreme Court ordered expansion of a mixed‑gender prayer space at the Western Wall.
- The proposed law gives the Chief Rabbinate authority to define 'desecration' and requires the Religious Affairs Ministry to consult the country's two Chief Rabbis, while left-wing lawmakers disrupted the preliminary reading and some right-wing MKs, including Amir Ohana, Knesset Speaker , abstained or were absent.
- If enacted, the bill would limit Israel's Supreme Court's ability to interfere in the Western Wall Plaza and block expansion of the mixed‑gender/egalitarian prayer space.
- Drafted by the lone Noam lawmaker, the proposal was presented as a clear boundary to High Court intervention, with supporters calling it 'value-based, national, and historic' and restoring authority to Israel's chief rabbis.
28 Articles
28 Articles
Liberal Jews denounce bill to ban non-Orthodox prayers at Western Wall
JERUSALEM (RNS) — The Israeli parliament’s decision to introduce legislation that would make it illegal to hold non-Orthodox and mixed-gender prayer in any part of the Western Wall complex has infuriated liberal Jews in Israel and the U.S. Some Orthodox rabbis have also criticized the legislation, which passed the first of three readings by a margin of 56-47 on Wednesday (Feb. 25). “This is a day that will be remembered as the moment the State s…
Associated Press News
Israel's parliament moves toward ban on mixed-gender prayer at Jerusalem's Western Wall
Israel’s parliament has passed a preliminary reading of a bill that would put the country’s ultra-Orthodox chief rabbinate in charge of the entire Western Wall in Jerusalem, raising fears among reform Jews that mixed-gender prayer at the site will soon be outlawed.
The Israeli Parliament adopted this Thursday a bill which seeks to strengthen the authority of the ultra-orthodox Arabs over the Wall of the Lamentations and which can lead to the elimination of the mixed prayer area. The Wall of the Lamentation is located in the Old City of Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in 1967 and is the last remaining vestment of the Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans, and the most sacred place where the rabbis allow the …
Knesset advances bill that would outlaw egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall
The bill submitted by far-right lawmaker Avi Maoz gives the authority on holy sites to the Chief Rabbinate and allows for a prison sentence of up to seven years ■ Women of the Wall: A 'black day for the State of Israel'
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