Mixed-Gender Sign Removed From Kosel

Following complaints from the Betzedek organization, which is fighting to remove the egalitarian prayer platform set up by Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett at the southern end of the Kosel, the Yerushalayim municipality agreed to remove a sign directing people to the mixed-gender area. But it was soon returned.

Attorney Eldad Rabinowitz who represents Betzedek said that the egalitarian prayer area   was set up against the law and he had hoped that  the Yerushalayim municipality had begun to enforce the law and removed the deceptive and illegal signs. The municipality said that the sign was returned because a formal request had been submitted for setting it up legally, but Rabinowitz argued that merely asking for a permit was not enough and in any case, no building permit existed to set up the platform in the first place.

Kosel activist Mati Dan said that municipal legal authorities were behind the illegal construction at the southern Kosel with the backup of state officials.

A small number of religious Jews even daven in the egalitarian area to demonstrate that it is no less part of the Kosel than anywhere else and bring portable partitions with them when necessary. The place is generally empty.

{Matzav.com Israel}