Women of the Wall members detained by police after protesters disrupt their Western Wall prayers

Several members of the group Women of the Wall are detained by police at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem after their prayer service celebrating the beginning of the Hebrew month of Adar was disrupted by demonstrators.

According to a statement by the organization, the police claim they were obstructing an emergency passage, even though the passage remained clear.

There is no immediate comment from police.

Women of the Wall gather at the Western Wall on Rosh Hodesh (the first day of a Hebrew month) to celebrate the occasion with a prayer service that includes a Torah reading. However, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which manages the site, does not allow the group to use any of the Western Wall’s Torah scrolls and has forbidden entering the area with a private Torah scroll. The group often encounters backlash from demonstrators or from ushers at the Foundation who try to prevent them from bringing Torah scrolls concealed in their bags.

According to the statement, the ushers searched the activists’ bags, which the group claims was illegal. Footage distributed by Women of the Wall shows some women reading from a small Torah scroll amid noise and whistles.

“We are fed up with the harassment and with attempts to undermine our prayer,” Women of the Wall says in a statement. “We are fed up with the fact that, despite there being no legal or halachic prohibition, the rabbi of the Western Wall prevents us by every means from reading from a Torah scroll. We will read from the Torah on Rosh Chodesh and fulfill what the court decided long ago: Women of the Wall’s prayer, with a Torah scroll, is a local custom, and we are permitted to read from a Torah scroll at the Western Wall.”

Yesterday, the High Court of Justice held a hearing on the status of egalitarian prayer and religious rights at the Western Wall for the first time in three years.