With potential violence at stake, President Isaac Herzog asked lawmakers Gilad Kariv and Alon Tal not to attend Rosh Hodesh prayers at the Western Wall on Friday.
Kariv (Labor) and Tal (Kahol Lavan) have committed to fulfill the President’s request, as Herzog promised that meetings will be held next week on the issue of pluralist spaces at the Western Wall.
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Since becoming a lawmaker and acquiring parliamentary immunity, Kariv, a Reform rabbi, has used his status during Rosh Hodesh prayers to pass a Torah scroll to Women of the Wall. In response, violence was expected Friday morning at the Western Wall as ultra-Orthodox lawmakers called on their constituencies to prevent the scroll from entering the women’s’ prayer section.
After Kariv called off his arrival, United Torah Judaism lawmaker Moshe Gafni said that additional ultra-Orthodox presence is unnecessary on Friday, but that they “will continue physically protecting the Western Wall’s sanctity.”
In a statement, President Herzog said: “The possibility of elected officials brawling at the remains of the temple, Judaism’s holiest place and where Jews around the world look towards, gives me great anguish, especially when we remember how fights at this sight ended 2,000 years ago.
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“Israel’s haters hope for pictures of this sort and I call on everyone to exhibit restraint and show respect for one another in the hopes of finding ways to peace within our nation.”
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