Posted on 04/17/23
| News Source: i24
'I reiterated U.S. support for implementation of the 2016 Western Wall agreement to expand the egalitarian space at the Wall'
An ambassador within U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration urged Israel on Sunday to advance the stalled agreement of implementing an official egalitarian prayer plaza at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.
“I visited the Western Wall for the first time today and met with Rabbi of the Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz. I reiterated U.S. support for implementation of the 2016 Western Wall agreement to expand the egalitarian space at the Wall,” tweeted Rashad Hussain, the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom.
The arrangement of an egalitarian prayer space was suspended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year due to pressure from his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners after a compromise was proposed in 2016 that would accommodate mixed-gender prayer. In what would create a pluralistic prayer pavilion at the site, that compromise has been a long point of debate between Israel’s government and Diaspora Jewry.
Yet, Hussain’s tweet seemed to be the first time a Biden administration official commented on the issue.
The egalitarian space currently exists in sort of a limbo state, lacking any formal recognition of its status and technically under the auspices of Rabbi Rabinowitz. Last summer saw violent protests at the Wall’s egalitarian section, where a group of ultra-Orthodox extremists disrupted a number of bar mitzvot and bat mitzvot ceremonies taking place there, whistling to drown out prayers, calling worshipers "Christians" and "Nazis," and tearing up prayer books.