From the Liveblog of
Sunday, April 16, 2023
Biden admin urges Israel to advance frozen Western Wall egalitarian compromise deal
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Biden administration urges Israel to implement the long-frozen agreement to establish a formalized egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall.
“I visited the Western Wall for the first time today and met with Rabbi of the Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz. I reiterated US support for implementation of the 2016 Western Wall agreement to expand the egalitarian space at the Wall,” tweets US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain.
I visited the Western Wall for the first time today and met with Rabbi of the Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz. I reiterated U.S. support for implementation of the 2016 Western Wall agreement to expand the egalitarian space at the Wall. pic.twitter.com/BQXKrVlaTr
— US Ambassador at Large for Int'l Religious Freedom (@IRF_Ambassador) April 16, 2023
The deal was initially struck by a previous Netanyahu government with broad support from across the political and religious spectrum. However, the Likud leader later halted its implementation given pressure from Orthodox coalition partners whose backing for the compromise began to waffle. Members of the previous Bennett-Lapid government pledged to implement the deal, but failed to do so due to pushback from their own Orthodox coalition partners, further dragging out a point of contention with Diaspora Jewry.
Hussain has been in Israel for the past several days and visited Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre and al-Aqsa Mosque, together with US Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr.
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