Rage: haredim blocked • Police stated facts: special space for 'women of provocation'

Total failure: only a few hundred haredim demonstrated this morning (Sunday) against the prayer of 'women of provocation' at the Western Wall. They carried signs that read, among others, "Women of provocation, you invented a new Judaism - build a new and modern wall for yourselves."

Police prepared with reinforcements to secure the women who came to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, on the occasion of Rosh Chodesh Tammuz. The police said that the ground forces were to allow women to pray according to their custom, without interruption.

As a preventative measure, the police closed part of the upper platform - above the the tefilla plazas, so as to keep the haredi demonstrators away from the women's section, where 'women of provocation' prayed without interruption, in a special area the police hedged, creating de facto a third section.

Haredim were furious at police and claimed that "The Israel Police is working in service of 'women of provocation". This is after police blocked this morning for more than half an hour the entrances and exits and did not allow the buses to unload the mispalelim. "The police cut the women's section in two, to allow the 'women of provocation' to access to the Western Wall, while the other worshipers were not given the option to get to the Wall."

Yossi Deitch, Acting Mayor of Jerusalem, said: "Haredi MK's should demand answers from the Prime Minister and Minister of Public Security. The only thing missing was that the police will hand out cups of coffee to Women of the Wall".

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places: "This morning the Wall became a closed castle for the provocation of this group of women. The image of this castle is a disgrace to the Jewish people as a whole. While barriers were placed in the prayer sections and simultaneously the bathrooms were closed for a long while and entry of worshipers to the Western Wall plaza was prevented, this is a disgrace to all of us and a deep offense to the sanctity and unity which the Western Wall represents. "

Rabbi Rabinowitz expressed regret over the situation that was before the Jewish nation's eyes this morning - Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, the month in which we begin to note the destruction of the Temple which was destroyed for the crime of hatred."

The Western Wall rabbi addressed all parties to do everything to find a solution to the dispute in the future, which does not honor the holy place and the entire people of Israel. "I am confident that with wisdom and intelligence we will find the solution," he said.

After the demonstration the police forces arrested two Haredi protesters, suspects that they threw an egg and a bottle after the departure of the women.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!