Government shelves pluralistic worship plan for Western Wall section

Under heavy pressure from the ultra-Orthodox ministers, the Israeli cabinet led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Sunday revoked the January 2016 accord with non-Orthodox Jewish communities worldwide for a space at the Western Wall outside the men-only Orthodox area for free, egalitarian worship. There were only two dissenters, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Energy Yuval Steinitz, who warned that the Reform and Conservative movements in Israel and the Diaspora would bitterly resent the divisive decision. The Western Wall in Jerusalem is held by all Jewish communities as its holiest shrine. The government action just beat the Monday deadline for the High Court of Justice to rule on petitions against the government ,for failing to uphold the 2016 agreement and slowing construction work at the southern section of the Wall dedicated to  pluralistic worship.

 

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