Secular Group Decries 'Hareidi Kotel Takeover'

Israelnationalnews.com ^ | 8/16/09 | Gil Ronen

[Nachum]

(IsraelNN.com) Activist secular group 'The Jerusalemites' complains that the women's prayer area in front of the Kotel (Western Wall) was reduced in size, and that men and women are separated in the external courtyard, are signs of the 'haredization' of the Kotel.

A local Jerusalem weekly reported Friday that the group, which is represented by one member (out of 31) on the City Council, said it was forming an action group for "returning the Kotel to the general public as part of the struggle for the character of Jerusalem.'"

[Nachum]

How dare the holiest site in Judaism be religious.

[HiTech RedNeck]

A large part of Israel tourism is Christians from the USA. With these new developments, how do they get to meet the Wall, if at all? When my father visited, it was simply one large plaza.

[ari-freedom]

why is a secular group complaining a women’s prayer area is too small when they don’t even believe in prayer?

[ml/nj]

"We cry for Har Tzion [Mount Zion] which became barren, for the Kotel plaza which is sometimes desecrated, and about soldiers who walk through it," Yakobson wrote.

Gotta say this guy Yakobson is a schmuck. I spent a great Kabalat Shabbat (Welcome the Sabbath) in the Men's enclosure last year with a group of dancing, singing soldiers all wearing big guns. Lots of us unbearded types, and a few with beards, joined them.

ML/NJ

[richardtavor]

There is absolutely no problem for anyone to go to the Kotel. I am not sure when your father went to the Kotel—I’ve been going since 1980, and there has never been a problem (the women and men have always been separated—since biblical times), but access has always been possible since 1967...