Kotel
KotelKobi Finkler

The B’tzedek NGO on Thursday filed an urgent appeal to the High Court of Justice (Supreme Court) demanding to ban the Conservative and Reform Movement’s planed egalitarian demonstration at the Kotel (Western Wall).

Attached to the petition as respondents are: The Israel Police, Minister of Religious Affairs, Chief Rabbis of Israel, the Conservative Movement in Israel, the Movement for Progressive Judaism (Reform) in Israel and the Women of the Wall.

The B’tzedek petition alleges that the scheduled event goes against the Protection of Holy Places Law and “local customs" currently defined within the law.

"The ‘prayer’ that was set is not a sudden surge of piety, but, as they profess, a purely political demonstration which the law prohibits at a holy place. To cover that, they are calling the demonstration a 'prayer’ session," the petition states. The government claims that the place given for non-Orthodox prayer is not considered holy.