Netanyahu under fire after reneging on Western Wall deal

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israel's shelving of a deal to allow men and women to pray together at the Western Wall echoed far beyond religion Monday, June 26, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of abandoning reform efforts for political gain, AFP says.

Netanyahu's cabinet voted Sunday to back out of the hard-won deal, provoking a flood of criticism and warnings it could damage Israel's relationship with the United States' influential Jewish community.

That followed pressure from ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties who are part of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition and follow a strict interpretation of religious rules.

Such parties have often played a kingmaker role in Israeli politics and have opposed years of efforts by more liberal Jews to win equal rights for women at the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

Women and men currently pray in separate areas at the site in Jerusalem's Old City, where religious affairs are overseen by Israel's ultra-Orthodox establishment.

A compromise reached more than a year ago and hailed as "historic" at the time would have created a third space near the wall, open to both women and men.

Sunday's cabinet vote froze the deal -- effectively cancelling it -- despite the government having earlier endorsed it.

In a sign of the tensions the decision provoked, the Jewish Agency, a quasi-governmental organisation that helped mediate the deal, heavily criticised the move and cancelled an event with Netanyahu scheduled for Monday evening in response.

Yair Lapid, an opposition figure and leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said the decision meant Israel was "the only democracy in the world without equality for Jews."