Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Ben Gvir cancels protest prayer event planned for Tel Aviv

27 September 2023, 5:53 pm 0 Edit

Secular and Orthodox activists clash after the religious Rosh Yehudi group sets up a gender divider made of Israeli flags in defiance of a municipality decision at a public prayer service in Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur, September 24, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash 90)

Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has canceled a planned prayer rally at Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square meant to protest against activists who had disrupted a Yom Kippur service that had a gender divider, the Otzma Yehudit leader says in a statement.

The reports come after Ben Gvir had vowed to resist heavy pressure to cancel the rally and after a planned protest against his service moved to another location.

A statement from Ben Gvir’s office accuses activists who protested when a religious group tried to organize a prayer with a banned gender barrier of “antisemitic actions.”

He says he’ll come to Tel Aviv if needed in the future to clarify that in Israel “Jews will always be able to pray in public spaces, anytime they want and anywhere.”