Will planning laws foil the push to reform the Kosel?

The battle over mixed prayer at the Kosel is heating up — much to the pleasure of left-wing egalitarian elements — but significant legal difficulties lie ahead for the Bennett-Lapid government. And the coalition will likely be put to another test, as the disparate anti-Netanyahu factions try to cobble together an acceptable solution.

Over five years after the “Kosel Compromise Plan” was approved  by the Netanyahu government (only to later be frozen), the High Court is expected to instruct Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government to go ahead with the plan, which would allow mixed prayer at the Kosel. The Bennett-Lapid-Lieberman government is expected to attempt to implement this in practice.

The struggle now begins in earnest between those preserving the sanctity of the holiest place in the world and representatives of heterodox streams of Judaism and their political patrons, who will do anything to violate it. Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin and Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana, two of the leading Orthodox voices in the coalition, have said they won’t let the plan go ahead. But while they conceivably believe this plan is a step too far, the right-wing elements in the coalition have a track-record of protesting pro forma, but folding in the end anyway.

Chareidi and national religious opposition MKs met with coalition members numerous times over the past few weeks in a last-ditch effort to stop the reforms. At the same time, they’re making preparations for a huge prayer rally of hundreds of thousands of participants. Meanwhile, a social media campaign charged that “Bennett is dividing the Kosel.” The plan is to arrange huge rallies and public prayers events should the government approve the deal.

In 2016, in the wake of repeated appeals to the High Court, the Netanyahu government drew up the Kosel Compromise Plan to enable pluralistic prayer at the southern Kosel plaza, with no separation between men and women. The significantly expanded prayer section was to be accessed from the main plaza, with a sign reading “Ezrat Yisrael” proudly marking the place where men and women could pray without partition at the holiest site in the world.

The plaza was to be administered by a public council appointed by the prime minister. This council was to include six representatives of the Conservative, Reform, and Women of the Wall movements, as well as six civil servants representing the prime minister’s office, the diaspora ministry, and the Israeli Antiquities Authority. Per the compromise, the Regulations for the Protection of the Holy Places would be amended and the local customs in the southern plaza would be based on the principles of “religious pluralism and gender equality.” While hitherto the only authority for the conduct of prayers at the site was that of the rav of the Kosel, Rav Shmuel Rabinowitz, and the chief rabbinate, the compromise would nullify his authority over the southern plaza, giving it to the Reform instead.

It’s important to note that the prayer area was to be significantly expanded, with multiple levels, and would include a raised prayer plaza with a large expanse surrounding it. At the end of the day, the area the government set aside for the Reform would be 130 percent of the size of the current women’s section, or 70 percent of the size of the current men’s section.

The funds designated for the project were immense: NIS 35 million for the construction, plus NIS 5 million a year for its upkeep. By comparison, the budget for the entire Kosel Plaza currently stands at just NIS 2 million a year.

Furthermore, the compromise called for the entrance to the mixed section to run through the main plaza. After passing through security, everyone would be able to choose which Kosel they want to visit — the Orthodox one, or the Reform one.

The chareidi parties, who tepidly backed the deal initially, soon caught on to the dangers posed by the compromise, and in 2017 the Netanyahu government decided to put the plans on hold. For all that, Netanyahu didn’t wish to risk an open rift with the Reform movement, and ordered construction preparing the southern plaza for prayer to proceed. Only after protests to the Jerusalem municipality by a variety of Orthodox and chareidi groups did the construction cease. The city engineer issued a stop-work order on grounds of the archaeological status of the site. Today, mixed prayer takes place at the place in small groups, mostly on Mondays and Thursdays, or during “bar mitzvah” celebrations at the Kosel.