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US Reform rabbis join monthly Women of the Wall protest that recent proposed legislation would have barred
(JTA) — American Reform rabbis joined Women of the Wall for the group’s monthly prayer service at the Western Wall, weeks after members of the Israeli government introduced, then quickly withdrew, a law that would have banned their activity.
In addition, police intervened to stop Orthodox counter-protesters who tried to disrupt a separate prayer service at a space allocated for egalitarian worship.
Every month for more than a decade, a group called Women of the Wall tries to bring a Torah to the women’s section of the holy site, known in Hebrew as the Kotel, despite objections from the rabbi who oversees the space. Their prayer services occur on the first day of each Hebrew month, when the Torah is traditionally read, and are opposed by Orthodox leaders who see the services as a desecration of the holy space.
Wednesday marked the first new Jewish month since legislation that would have criminalized egalitarian prayer and immodest dress at the Western Wall was proposed, then quickly walked back amid a widespread outcry.
Reform rabbis from the United States were among the crowds of people joining and supporting the Women of the Wall demonstration. The Reform movement brought more than 200 rabbis to Israel this week for a convention, held in the country for the first time since the pandemic. Their Israeli colleagues joined them for a march and the prayer service.
“As a woman, a rabbi, the only woman chief executive in the CCAR’s 134-year history & as a proud feminist, I’m bound by Jewish values to support not only Women of the Wall but to proudly hold the Torah for all women told they cannot worship freely at the Kotel,” Rabbi Hara Person, the head of the movement’s rabbinical association, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, said in a statement.
Gilad Kariv, a Reform rabbi who is a member of Knesset, Israel’s parliament, played the role he has since being elected in 2021. The Orthodox rabbi who oversees the Western Wall Plaza has sought to block women from bringing Torahs by having guards remove them during the security screening at the plaza’s entrance. As a member of parliament, Kariv does not have to undergo those screenings and can bring the Torah scroll in.
Today, Rabbi Hara Person, Chief Executive of the Central Conference of American Rabbis & Rabbi Erica Asch, President Elect, with Women of the Wall, MARAM rabbis & #Reformrabbis from across America & around the world joined together at the Kotel to carry the Torah & pray openly. pic.twitter.com/Zb6SEequwC
— CCAR (@ReformRabbis) February 22, 2023
While another Knesset member from a haredi Orthodox party tried to block Kariv’s delivery of the Torah, the prayer service took place as planned. Teenagers associated with the far-right Noam Party heckled the women, as well as men and women praying together at a separate service in an egalitarian space administered by the Conservative-Masorti movement. But police intervened to restrain the Noam protesters, according to local media reports.
The police pledged to deploy additional officers on the first day of the month in the wake of an incident in which Orthodox protesters disrupted the bar mitzvah of an American boy last summer in the egalitarian prayer section, and police officers did not intervene.
An agreement approved by the Israeli government in 2016 would have expanded a the egalitarian prayer area. That deal, however, was suspended the following year after backlash from haredi parties. The Israeli Supreme Court, which the current government wants to disempower, is due to discuss whether the agreement must be implemented at an upcoming hearing.
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Jailed Iranian Peace Laureate Mohammadi Moved to Hospital in Tehran
A picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi on the wall of the Grand Hotel in central Oslo before the Nobel banquet, in connection with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2023, in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2023. Photo: NTB/Javad Parsa via REUTERS
Iran’s imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has been moved to a hospital in the capital, Tehran, and has been granted a suspension of her sentence on heavy bail, a foundation run by her family said on Sunday.
Mohammadi, 54, won the prize in 2023 while in prison for a campaign to advance women’s rights and abolish the death penalty. She suffered a heart attack two weeks ago.
Her family had called for her to be transferred from Zanjan, northwest of Tehran, where she was serving her sentence and where she had been initially taken to a hospital, so that she could receive better medical care.
She is now at Tehran Pars Hospital for treatment by her own medical team after being transferred by ambulance, the Narges Mohammadi Foundation said in a statement.
Mohammadi was sentenced to a new prison term of 7-1/2 years, the foundation said in February, weeks before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran. The Nobel committee at the time called on Tehran to free her immediately.
She had been arrested in December after denouncing the death of a lawyer, Khosrow Alikordi. A prosecutor told reporters that she had made provocative remarks at Alikordi’s memorial ceremony.
The foundation gave no details of the bail arrangements or suspension of her sentence.
“However, a suspension is not enough,” it said. “Narges Mohammadi requires permanent, specialized care. We must ensure she never returns to prison.”
Iran shut down most of the internet in the country in January as authorities suppressed mass protests triggered by economic unease. Rights groups have reported ongoing executions of people involved in the unrest.
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Israel’s Attorney General Calls to Cancel Netanyahu’s Mossad Chief Appointment
Israeli Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara. Photo: Twitter
i24 News – Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told the High Court of Justice on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to appoint Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman as the next Mossad chief must be canceled.
Baharav-Miara filed her position ahead of a Tuesday hearing on petitions challenging the appointment, telling the court that “substantial flaws” had been found both in the process conducted by the advisory committee and in the conclusions it drew. She said Netanyahu’s decision suffered from “extreme and blatant unreasonableness” and could not stand legally.
At the center of the dispute is the case of Ori Elmakayes, who was a 17-year-old minor when he was activated in 2022 by Division 210, without going through authorized intelligence channels. At the time, the division was commanded by Gofman. Elmakayes was arrested in May 2022 under espionage charges after two officers sent him classified information and told him to post it online as part of an “influence campaign,” despite not being authorized to do so. Gofman initiated this operation. Elmakayes was then held in full detention until July, spending an extended period under electronic monitoring and house arrest before the indictment against him was canceled in late 2023.
Baharav-Miara says Gofman’s involvement in leaking the classified information to the minor, “casts a heavy shadow on Gofman’s integrity and thus on his appointment to head the Mossad.” The attorney general also identified serious procedural failings in the advisory committee’s work. She notes that the majority members signed their opinion before committee chairman and former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis had written his dissent and before two members had reviewed several classified documents significant to the full picture. Grunis concluded that integrity flaws had been found and that it was not appropriate to appoint Gofman as Mossad chief.
The attorney general also says the committee failed to hear directly from Elmakayes or from a relevant senior military intelligence officer, instead relying in part on media interviews.
Netanyahu, who appointed Gofman to head the Mossad starting in early June, for a five-year term, submitted his own response to the court on this past Friday, arguing that the decision fell within his executive authority. The Prime Minister also said that his assessment of the matter was “dozens of times superior” to that of the court, adding that Gofman’s integrity was “found pure,” and describing him as the most qualified candidate.
Other coalition figures responded to the attorney general with sharp criticism, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir accused Baharav-Miara of fighting the state, while Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said her position was “one step too far” and vowed to advance legislation splitting the attorney general’s role in the Knesset’s summer session.
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Kuwait’s Army Says It Has Intercepted Hostile Drones Over Airspace
A drone is seen at an underground site at an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on May 28, 2022. Iranian Army/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Kuwait’s army said it had detected and dealt with several hostile drones in the country’s airspace at dawn on Sunday, the latest incident following similar cross‑border drone activity linked to the Iran conflict.
On April 25, Kuwait’s army said two drones launched from Iraq had targeted two northern border posts, causing damage.
Its air defenses also dealt with a wave of Iranian drones on April 8 that targeted vital infrastructure.
While hostilities during the conflict have largely been scaled down since a ceasefire came into effect in April, drones have been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.