MK Rabbi Menachem Eliezer Moses, Chairman of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) faction in the Knesset, told Arutz Sheva that the cancellation of the Kotel (Western Wall) Plan was necessary, and is not excited by the shouts of protest from the Reform Movement and Jewish Agency.
“Over 10 million people visit the Kotel every year and honor the place, and all of a sudden comes this group of clowns at the start of every month and harms the character of the holy site. Look how they dance with the Torah and tefillin, and near them righteous women are standing pouring their hearts out to their Father in Heaven,” he said.
“Is it possible to allow this minority to decide the policy at the Kotel?” he asked, emphasizing, “Therefore the decision of the government was clear, and it is a necessary reality that it cannot be that a minority like this dictates to us how to behave at the Kotel.”
He said that the minority of Diaspora Jewry opposed to the plan should not be determining the policy for the Kotel.
“50 thousand Reform Jews [...] stand against 750 thousand who voted for us. Those who don’t participate in elections, whose children don’t go to the IDF, suddenly they have the right to talk. They should move to Israel and participate in the elections, and we’ll see how strong they are.”
David Ben Gurion said the same to Reform Movement leaders in 1970.
Rabbi Mozes is not surprised by the vocal protest of Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and Defense Minister Liberman. “Today, the Jewish Agency is partially made up of Reform, but most of the public is not with them - evidenced by the fact that there are thousands of Bar Mitzvah celebrations at the Kotel in the spirit of Jewish Law and with separation between the genders.” Similarly, he dismissed Liberman’s support for the plan as “populist statements meant for his voters, but he doesn’t really understand these issues.”
“The threat that the Reform won’t support us shows a good deal of chutzpa. We didn’t see them standing up for us during the years of the Obama administration,” he noted.