Women of the Wall
Women of the WallFlash 90

MK Yisrael Eichler of the haredi UTJ party caused a firestorm of indignation at the Knesset Monday when he compared the Women of the Wall (WoW) to the Islamist murabitat – the women whose job it is to scream and shout at Jews who ascend the Temple Mount.

He spoke at a session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

"The murabitat women receive money from the Islamic Movement to create provocations and keep Jews from ascending the Temple Mount," he said, "whereas the Women of the Wall get money from the Reform Jews to create disturbances at the Western Wall."

Leftist-feminist MKs Zehava Galon (Meretz) and Shelly Yechimovich (Labor) immediately denounced and rebuked Eichler with great fervor.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also expressed his displeasure with the comparison. Eichler responded by saying, "this does not bind you, I had to say these things so that they would be recorded in the minutes."

WoW have been waging a years-long campaign to challenge normative Jewish practices and halakha(Jewish law) at the Kotel, as well as breaking longtime tradition and customs at the holy site, by conducting Torah readings in the women's section.

The group holds a monthly prayer group at the start of each Hebrew month. Last month, the group announced they would not try to smuggle Torah scrolls into the plaza on Rosh Hodesh (the first day of the month of) Heshvan, because of the security situation, so as not to overload the police there.

They say they have not yet decided whether to attempt to smuggle in Torah scrolls on Rosh Hodesh Kislev.

In a statement, WoW responded harshly to Eichler's comment.

"With these words MK Eichler represents a very extreme Jewish minority who see the Kotel as their own private synagogue," the statement read.

"Women of the Wall’s struggle threatens this 'Haredi Kotel' vision, and in his perspective, anyone who does not agree with him is the enemy. If it were up to Eichler, women would be all together excluded from the Kotel or forced to dress up like the Taliban in order to enter."