Multiple coalition parties pledged on Sunday to advance a bill sponsored by MK Avi Maoz (Noam) that would grant the Chief Rabbinate authority to determine prayer arrangements at the Western Wall, following a High Court ruling ordering upgrades to the site’s egalitarian prayer plaza.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation canceled its scheduled meeting on Sunday, ahead of an expected vote that would have determined whether the bill had government backing. Despite the cancellation, the legislation is still slated for a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled the vote in the ministerial committee to avoid a crisis with Diaspora Jewry, who would widely oppose such a bill, KAN News reported on Sunday.
Following the cancellation of the ministerial committee meeting, Maoz called on all members of Knesset to vote in favor of his bill, claiming that it would preserve the integrity of the site and work against the High Court ruling “to divide the Wall.”
Multiple coalition parties said that their faction members would back the bill.
The haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism (UTJ), said they would support the bill, in a joint statement made with the right-wing Otzma Yehudit Party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The Religious Zionist Party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, also expressed backing for the bill.
“Regarding the exact wording of the law, the Religious Zionist Party [HaTzionut HaDatit] will consult with Israel’s chief rabbis in order to reach the optimal formulation,” the party said in a statement.
“We will not allow the High Court to decide the future of the Western Wall,” it added.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin (Likud) said he, too, would support the bill, despite it not receiving approval in the ministerial committee due to the cancellation.
'Tell the High Court, Enough is enough'
“Under these circumstances, there is no government position, and therefore I intend to vote in favor of the bill in the plenum. I call on all Knesset members, and particularly coalition members, to do the same and to tell the High Court: Enough is enough.”
Moaz’s legislation, referred to as the “Western Wall Bill,” would determine what is considered to be “desecration” at Jewish holy sites based on the rulings of the Chief Rabbinate.
The bill is an amendment to the existing law concerning the holy site.
According to Maoz, the law was originally enacted in 1967, following the Six-Day War, and his amendment seeks to remove ambiguity and establish explicitly that only the Chief Rabbinate can determine regulations at the Western Wall.
Critics say this would essentially undermine the ruling of the High Court.
The Thursday High Court decision had ruled to complete the necessary bureaucratic steps required to restore and upgrade the Ezrat Yisrael plaza, the southern prayer area designated for mixed-gender and non-Orthodox worship under the government-backed 2016 so-called “Kotel Agreement.”
Pluralism advocates welcomed the High Court decision as a significant step toward restoring physical access to the egalitarian section, while religious authorities and ultra-Orthodox political leaders sharply criticized the court’s intervention, arguing that matters concerning prayer arrangements at the Wall fell outside its jurisdiction.
MK Gilad Kariv (The Democrats), the former CEO of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, sharply criticized the bill’s expected advancement in the plenum.
“As long as the prime minister allows coalition members a free vote on this issue, postponing the discussion [in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation] amounts to little more than a meaningless gesture.”
“On behalf of the majority of the Jewish people in Israel and in the Diaspora, we demand that the prime minister not allow coalition members to drag the Jewish world into an unnecessary and unfair dispute, amid the wave of antisemitism that is striking individuals and communities of all streams without distinction,” Kariv said.
“Netanyahu knows very well that there is no real drama in the High Court’s recent ruling, and we demand that he curb the poisonous wave of incitement and propaganda. If he does not do so, some of Israel’s greatest friends in the Jewish world will,” Kariv added.
World Zionist Organization (WZO) Vice Chairman Yizhar Hess also condemned the bill’s advancement, saying that it was extreme and would “radically undermine” past agreements that have “allowed for countless Jews to pray according to their custom at the Egalitarian Kotel.”
Any prayer the Chief Rabbinate doesn’t approve would be ‘desecration’
“Functionally, this law defines any Jewish prayer that the Chief Rabbinate doesn’t approve of as ‘desecration’ and allows for the arrest and imprisonment of those who do so.
“This would be a declaration of war on world Jewry that has stood by Israel’s side these past challenging years,” he said.
“It’s hard to think of a less Zionist, less Jewish, and more damaging proposal. The prime minister must stop this madness,” Hess added.
Sarah Ben-Nun contributed to this report.