Emanuel son’s bar mitzva near Kotel faces court challenge

Right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir says Davidson Center does not have license to hold events.

By DAN IZENBERG, GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
RahmEmanuel311 (photo credit: Associated Press)
RahmEmanuel311
(photo credit: Associated Press)
The Jerusalem District Court for Administrative Affairs on Wednesday gave Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and the East Jerusalem Development Company 24 hours to reply to a petition by right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir against holding the bar mitzva of Rahm Emanuel’s son as planned.
In his petition, Ben-Gvir said that the Davidson Center, where the bar mitzva is due to be held on Thursday, did not have a license to hold events or celebrations.
The Davidson Center is a tourist facility located in the archeological park just below the southwestern corner of the Western Wall.
Ben-Gvir charged that the East Jerusalem Development Company, which operates the center, was not allowed to take money for making it available to Emanuel.
Ben-Gvir has also asked for an interim injunction to bar the Davidson Center from holding events such as the bar mitzva until the court rules on the petition or until such time as it makes a different decision. But the court rejected the request.
He told The Jerusalem Post that the court had onlyseen his petition at 8 p.m. and had given him its answer at 9:30 p.m.
In a related development, Ben-Gvir and fellow right-wing activistBaruch Marzel canceled a demonstration they were planning outside thePrime Minister’s Office during Emanuel’s meeting with Prime MinisterBinyamin Netanyahu, because they wanted to instead hold acounter-protest at a left-wing rally taking place in Jerusalem’s SheikhJarrah neighborhood.
They said they would wait to protest against Emanuel until he visitsthe Old City, when they believed such a demonstration would be mosteffective.
A stage was being erected in the Southern Wall area outside the TempleMount on Wednesday night, according to Marzel. He said he intended tolead a demonstration there on Thursday morning.