30 MKs urge PM to allow mixed prayer area at Western Wall

Thirty lawmakers have called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sideline a new bill from Shas that would ban mixed-gender prayer at the Western Wall, and instead asked him to implement a plan for egalitarian worship at the Jewish holy site.

The MKs, most of them from the opposition parties, sent a letter to Netanyahu on Thursday, which stated that the proposed legislation from the ultra-Orthodox party “divides the Jewish people and perpetuates discrimination against the Reform and Conservative streams, right in the land of Israel.”

The initiative was spearheaded by Zionist Union MK Nachman Shai, who also urged the government to enact a bill approved by the government in January 2016 to permit mixed prayer at the holy site. The legislation stated that Israel will develop the temporary platform, known as Robinson’s Arch, adjacent to the Orthodox prayer plaza and set it aside as a permanent egalitarian prayer space.

“The government must honor its decisions,” said Shai, the chair of the Knesset Lobby for Strengthening the Jewish World. “Israel is gnawing away on its own strategic and vital connection to American Jewry, leaving millions of Jews hurt and disappointed.”

The signatories were primarily liberal or secular members of the opposition parties Zionist Union, Yesh Atid and Meretz, as well as coalition members Yehuda Glick of Likud and Merav Ben-Ari‎‎‎‎ from the Kulanu Party. Glick is known as an advocate of freedom of prayer for all, not only at the Western Wall but also on the Temple Mount.

The proposed Shas legislation, also endorsed by lawmakers from United Torah Judaism, as well as Likud’s Oren Hazan, Dudi Amsalem and Miki Zohar and Jewish Home’s Betzalel Smotrich, Moti Yogev, and Nissan Slomianksy, was officially lodged earlier this month, would anchor Orthodox practice in law throughout the entire Western Wall vicinity.

The proposal would impose a ban on a slew of practices, including mixed-gender prayer, at Robinson’s Arch, where the government has pledged to build a prayer plaza for Reform and Conservative Jews. The construction of the egalitarian plaza has been put on hold since it was announced in January, reportedly due to pressure from the Haredi political parties.

Despite the long line-up of coalition MKs endorsing the bill and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s need to placate his coalition partners, the legislation is unlikely to make headway, as stirrings of opposition have emerged from the coalition Kulanu party.

Moreover, the ultra-Orthodox parties, in their coalition agreements, have signed on a provision that says the coalition will torpedo any legislation that changes the existing religious status quo.