3 January 2013

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has instructed Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky to find ways of making the Western Wall more accommodating for Jewish women.  Sharansky said, “During our conversation, the Prime Minister stressed that the Wall must remain a source of Jewish unity, rather than of division."

The issue has again flared up after four women were arrested by the Wall during Hanukah for wearing tallits (prayer shawls) by the Wall.  They were released without charges.

The campaign to increase religious pluralism at the Western Wall has been led by Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of veteran NIF grantee Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC)  and chairwoman of Women of the Wall.  Hoffman has herself been arrested several times for wearing a  tallit near the Wall.

Following Netanyahu’s instructions, Hoffman expressed cautious optimism, "It’s a good thing that after 24 years the highest echelons in Israel are actually paying attention to this rift that is breaking Diaspora Jews from Israel.”

Ron Dermer, Senior Advisor to Netanyahu told the New York Times, "The Prime Minister thinks the Western Wall has to be a site that expresses the unity of the Jewish people, both inside Israel and outside the state of Israel.  He wants to preserve the unity of world Jewry.  This is an important component of Israel's strength."

Hoffman, however, added that she had no intention of abandoning the campaign while Netanyahu and Sharansky seek a solution.  In the coming weeks, she plans on petitioning the Supreme Court against the legality of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation’s authority over the site and will demand that a body be appointed that reflects the entire Jewish people, men and women, and all streams of Judaism.

Meanwhile, those who defend the ultra-Orthodox hegemony over religious practice in Israel characterize the struggle as initiated and sustained by liberal Jewish American interests.