I don't want to write about that. The topic just annoys me by now and I try as much as possible to avoid reading any articles or posts written on that subject.
What I am writing about now is something that is only peripherally related to the WoW-W4tW fight.
The tactic used by W4tW the past couple of months has been to bus in thousands of women and seminary girls to the Kotel for Rosh Chodesh davening, thereby overwhelming WoW with opponents and also leaving no physical space at the Kotel for WoW.
The police, in anticipation of this months festivities, made a request of Rav Shmuel Rabinoitch, Rav of the Kotel, and of Haredi representatives in Jerusalem's City Hall, to not have the seminary girls come to the Kotel to daven this Rosh Chodesh. Why? Because the police will be dealing with the Arabs who will be coming en masse to the Temple Mount, it being the last days of Ramadan. With needing to deal with such a high-level security issue, they would not want the distraction of the issue at the Kotel and the need to secure the area for the thousands of women who would be coming.
In the end, the request was rejected. According to Ladaat, they considered going ahead with the police request, but made it conditional on WoW also compromising and not going to the Kotel this month. When they refused to stay away, the Haredi reps decided they would go ahead and bring the women to daven as originally planned.
I find it very disrespectful that the police asked people to not go to the Kotel to daven, on Rosh Chodesh (but really any time would be just as bad), because of a Muslim holiday. Not only do they close off Har Habayit to Jews, using Ramadan as an excuse (not just the last day of Ramadan, but it has been closed for a couple of weeks already), but now they tell people not to go to the Kotel because of Ramadan? The Kotel, which is not under dispute (with the Arabs)?
As well, is the Muslim holiday more important than the Jewish holiday? Why did they not ask the Arabs to stay away from Temple Mount today because of the large influx of Jews coming to pray for Rosh Chodesh services?
The Israeli police attitude favoring Muslims over Jews in the areas of prayer by the Kotel and Har Habayit is upsetting me.
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You're right except for one thing.
ReplyDelete"... now they tell people not to go to the Kotel because of Ramadan? The Kotel, which is not under dispute (with the Arabs)?"
Of course it IS disputed by the Arabs. Yasser Arafat, Y"Sh, and all who have followed him in PLO leadership, have stated explicitly that the Kotel is part of East Jerusalem, and so of course will be part of their new state (which they state repeatedly will be Judenrein).
Agreed. There have been many complaints about police harassment of Jews in the Old City lately. Someone was viciously arrested for trying to bring in some musical instrument.
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