Netanyahu at Western Wall
Netanyahu at Western WallYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shared a tweet from Shas head MK Aryeh Deri, calling on "everyone who values Jewish tradition" to come to the Western Wall tomorrow morning, in order to counter the gathering of Women of the Wall, which is seen by many as a provocation and breaches Torah law.

"Tomorrow, Friday, the first day of the month of Kislev, at seven o'clock in the morning, accompanied by ten other Knesset members, I will be arriving at the Western Wall to pray at the last remaining section of our Holy Temple," Deri wrote.

"I call on everyone who values the sanctity of the Kotel to come and pray together with us and ensure that the sanctity of this holy place is not defiled."

The ultra-feminist Women of the Wall are a liberal, anti-traditional Jewish group that hold a monthly service in the women's section at the Western Wall, rather than in the section specially designated for non-traditional prayer at the southern part of the plaza.

Last month, they were joined by MK Gilad Kariv, a Reform minister, who entered the women's section with a Torah scroll in hand and gave it to the approximately dozen Women of the Wall who had gathered there. In doing so, he flouted the instructions of the Justice Ministry, but due to his parliamentary immunity, he could not be arrested. Instead, an usher from the Western Wall Heritage Foundation pleaded with him not to take such an inflammatory step; when he insisted on doing so, the predictable uproar resulted.

MK Kariv responded to Netanyahu and Deri on Twitter: "The hypocritical Netanyahu retweeted Aryeh Deri's call to come to the Western Wall tomorrow morning to prevent its 'desecration' by the Women of the Wall."

"Immediately after Mansour Abbas finishes telling about all of Netanyahu's promises to Ra'am, I will begin to tell everything that Netanyahu told us about the conduct of the haredi establishment at the Western Wall, and in general," Kariv wrote.