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4 Sivan 5760 - June 7, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Knesset Weighs Bill to Jail Women for Desecrating the Kosel

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

Shas and United Torah Judaism proposed bills in response to a recent High Court ruling, which granted the Reform group Women of the Wall permission to hold monthly prayers that would subject women who pray with a Torah at the Kosel Ham'arovi to jail sentences of up to seven years. The two bills passed the Knesset on preliminary reading, despite opposition from the government.

The Court decision is to be implemented within six months. However, the State Attorney's Office said it will ask for another hearing.

Under the Shas bill, non-religious activities would not be allowed in the wider Kosel plaza without special permission. "Unacceptable" prayers and "improper dress" would also be banned. Violations would carry a maximum of six months imprisonment or a NIS 2,000 fine.

The UTJ bill would enforce the separation of men and women at the Kosel, and impose a seven-year sentence against women who pray with a Torah, shofar, tallis, or tefillin. It was submitted and put to a vote without the 45-day waiting period, since it was similar to the Shas bill.

UTJ MK Rabbi Avraham Ravitz said that the prison sentence is not the main issue, noting that the party wanted to make a point that the matter is very important to it. "At the Kosel, we have to behave according to halacha," he said.

"It's not we who originated the seven-year sentence," he said. "According to the law books of the State of Israel, seven years is the punishment for anyone who offends religious sensitivities [at holy sites].

"In this case there are thousands and thousands of Jews-- maybe millions around the world--who don't see the Kosel as a place for various come-and-go organizations to make their `statements,' nor do they see it as a place for confrontation."

He explained that the law proposed by the UTJ did not deal with the prison sentence. "Seven years is definitely a severe prison term, but this wasn't the issue. When it comes up for deliberation in committee, we will discuss this.

"As far as I'm concerned, the sentence could be shortened to seven minutes!" he said.

MK Ravitz explained that the legislation is "essentially a form of protest against the High Court's interference into areas not its own." Through its ruling, he said, the Court circumvented the existing law, "so we passed a law that circumvents the Court's circumvention."

MKs from the National Religious Party, National Union, Likud, and Shas leader Eli Yishai supported the bills, which were opposed by Meretz, One Israel, Shinui, Center, and the Arab parties.

MK Moshe Gafni of the United Torah Judaism called the High Court justices "a pack of militant secularists who wants to force their religious opinions and values on us. They want to uproot all the basic tenets of Judaism, and have become a branch of the Shinui party."


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