Israel’s shelving of a deal to allow men and women to pray together at the Western Wall echoed far beyond religion Monday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of abandoning reform efforts for political gain.
Netanyahu’s cabinet voted Sunday to back out of the hard-won deal, provoking a flood of criticism and warnings it could damage Israel’s relationship with the United States’ influential Jewish community.
That followed pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties who are part of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition and follow a strict interpretation of religious rules.
Such parties have often played a kingmaker role in Israeli politics and have opposed years of efforts by more liberal Jews to win equal rights for women at the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.
Women and men currently pray in separate areas at the site in Jerusalem’s Old City, where religious affairs are overseen by Israel’s ultra-Orthodox establishment.
A compromise reached more than a year ago and hailed as “historic” at the time would have created a third space near the wall, open to both women and men.
Read the full article by AFP and watch the video at SBS.
Watch this video from Danny Lamm, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, criticising these moves and explaining how the Israeli government has just slapped world Jewry in the face.