Dr. Yizhar Hess, Deputy Chairman of the World Zionist Organization, commented on the tearing of the prayer books of the Women of the Wall movement on Friday:
"Everywhere else in the world, if prayer books had been desecrated in a city square we would rightly shout against hatred of Jews, against anti-Semitism, and wonder where the police were," Hess said. '' And here at the Western Wall, in the heart of Jerusalem, Haredim are throwing objects and spitting on Jewish women who come to pray - and the commander of the Jerusalem district is nowhere to be seen. I have no expectations of the Rabbi of the Western Wall in this, but I do of the police, and their failure is painfully obvious."