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Sunday, February 22, 2026
Religious Zionism to support bill to grant Rabbinate full control over Western Wall
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party announces it will vote in favor of Noam MK Avi Maoz’s bill giving the Chief Rabbinate full control over prayer at all parts of the Western Wall in its preliminary reading next week.
“As Religious Zionism chairman Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced immediately after the High Court of Justice ruling, the Religious Zionism faction will vote in favor of a law that will ensure the integrity of the Western Wall and preserve its sanctity,” the party says in a statement.
Maoz’s proposal is intended to undercut last Thursday’s High Court ruling that the state must move forward with the upgrade of the Western Wall egalitarian plaza, which would allow non-Orthodox prayers at a lesser-used portion of the holy site.
The ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, announced that they would vote in favor of Maoz’s bill earlier in a joint statement.
The Times of Israel Community.