Knesset advances bill cementing Orthodox control of Western Wall

Israel’s Knesset has advanced controversial legislation that would place prayer arrangements at the Western Wall under the exclusive control of the ultra-Orthodox Chief Rabbinate, prompting a sharp response from non-Orthodox Jewish leaders in Israel and abroad.

Lawmakers approved the bill in a preliminary reading on Wednesday by 56 votes to 47. The proposal, sponsored by Noam party MK Avi Maoz, amends the Protection of Holy Places Law and defines the Chief Rabbinate as the final authority over practices at Jewish holy sites. This includes the entire Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem containing the Ezrat Yisrael section, the southern area used for egalitarian, mixed-gender prayer.

Under the measure, conduct deemed contrary to the Chief Rabbinate’s directives would be classified as desecration of a holy place, punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment. Opponents say the bill would effectively criminalise non-Orthodox and mixed-gender worship and sharply curtail religious pluralism at Judaism’s most accessible sacred site.

The move also appears to contradict previous undertakings by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Diaspora Jewish leaders. In 2016, his government approved a landmark compromise to expand and formalise the egalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall and create a pluralistic governing council that would include non-Orthodox representatives.

Although that agreement was later frozen under pressure from ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, Netanyahu at the time described it as a way to preserve Jewish unity and strengthen ties with world Jewry. Advancing legislation that would cement exclusive Orthodox control over the entire site risks being seen by many Diaspora leaders as a reversal of those commitments and a retreat from earlier promises of inclusion.

Supporters, including Shas, United Torah Judaism and Otzma Yehudit, say the legislation protects the site’s sanctity and clarifies authority following recent High Court of Justice rulings directing the government to proceed with upgrades to the egalitarian plaza. Critics argue it overrides earlier efforts to accommodate pluralist prayer and entrenches Orthodox monopoly in law.

In a statement on 18th February, the Executive of the World Zionist Organization made a formal resolution expressing support for WZO Executive member Tammy Gottlieb. The executive stated that the right to pray at the Western Wall is a fundamental right to which every Jewish man and woman is entitled, in accordance with their own path, faith and worldview.

The resolution described the Western Wall as a historic, religious and cultural symbol for Jews in Israel and around the world and said it was inconceivable that there should not be room there for a range of Jewish experiences and customs. Citing the resolution of the 39th World Zionist Congress, it called on the Government of Israel to immediately implement the Western Wall compromise framework advanced at the time by Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky and cabinet secretary Avichai Mandelblit.

In a statement on Thursday, the Union for Progressive Judaism, ARZA, Netzer and Mercaz-Masorti Australasia said they “strongly condemn the advancement of legislation that would grant the Chief Rabbinate exclusive control over prayer at all areas of the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s most sacred sites ”.

“If enacted, the proposed law would effectively criminalise non-Orthodox Jewish worship, preventing Jews, particularly members of Masorti and Reform communities from holding prayer services at the Wall under the threat of imprisonment for up to seven years,” the statement said.

The organisations described the proposal as a direct assault on religious freedom. “This is a law that targets Jews who are not orthodox and undermines the fundamental principle of freedom of religion,” they said.

They argued the implications extend well beyond the physical site in Jerusalem. “This holy site belongs to the entire Jewish people and must not be subject to political control or religious coercion,” the statement said.

For Australian Jewry, the groups state, the issue is not an internal Israeli matter but one that strikes at identity and belonging. They framed it as a question of “whether the Kotel remains a home for one wall for one people or a site where the diversity of our tradition is legally erased”.

They said that for the majority of Australian Jews who identify with Progressive, Reform or Masorti traditions, the developments feel like “a direct assault on the legitimacy of our own religious lives”.

The statement went further, linking the bill to broader questions of solidarity at a time of rising antisemitism. “At a time when the Israeli government is asking for our unwavering advocacy and support in the face of rising global antisemitism, it is simultaneously signalling that our Judaism is ‘second-class’ or, worse, a legal transgression.”

They warned that the idea of an egalitarian Bnei Mitzvah or a woman’s prayer at the Kotel could attract state-sanctioned penalties “feels like a betrayal” and creates “a sharp cognitive dissonance” for diaspora Jews asked to defend a state that is, in their words, legislating against their equality.

The groups expressed “grave concern” that the legislation would set a dangerous precedent, entrenching exclusion and division within the Jewish world and eroding long-standing commitments to pluralism.

Finally, they indicate they would formally write to the Embassy of Israel in Australia urging immediate intervention to ensure the bill does not become law.

The bill now proceeds to committee and must pass three further readings before becoming law. Its progress is expected to intensify debate over religion and state in Israel and the country’s relationship with Diaspora Jewish communities.