Violent altercations broke out at the Western Wall on Friday when hundreds of members of the Women of the Wall group who arrived to hold prayers marking the start of the Hebrew month Adar II as well as the organization's 30th anniversary were attacked by ultra-Orthodox men, rabbis, and female seminary students.
Some 6,000 Orthodox and haredi protesters arrived to protest the Women of the Wall's prayer activity. The protest was organized by a group which brought in the seminary girls. The group said the haredi worshippers had arrived from dozens of different yeshivas, women's seminaries, and communities throughout Israel. They conducted a "counter-prayer" service using an amplifier, led by Cantor Naftali Kempe, which attempted to drown out the Women of the Wall prayers.
When the clashes began, Israel Police forces were scrambled to the scene and attempted to restore order and separate the members of the two groups. Members of Women of the Wall said, "The Israel Police abandoned the Women of the Wall to violence by dozens of seminary girls. Two of the worshippers were evacuated for medical treatment."
Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinovitch used a PA system to address both groups and urge them to stop their respective activities and focus on prayer, not fighting.
"This is the Western Wall Plaza, not a plaza for demonstrations," Rabinovitch said.
"Do not harm the sanctity of this place. Guard it as a place of unification, not division," he added.
Chairwoman of Women of the Wall Anat Hoffman said, "Despite the disturbances created by thousands of haredi extremists who came to desecrate the sanctity of a Jewish holy site and disrupt the Women of the Wall at prayer; despite the amplifiers used there to disrupt the praying; despite the Israel Police abandoning the Women of the Wall to violence – so that two of them needed to be evacuated because they weren't feeling well – we are praying here with joy. We have been here for 30 years and we will continue to do so, every month, forever."
Meretz chairwoman Tamar Zandberg responded to the violence: "On International Women's Day, of all days, women are violently attacked just because they wanted to pray in accordance with their beliefs. For years, the leadership of the haredi public has been inciting against women and Reform Jews, while government ministers stay silent, and the message has made its way to the streets. I expect the police to protect the women and not those behind the violence."
The Israel Police said that the Women of the Wall had not obeyed instructions from the police and staff at the plaza and had carried out a provocation.
"During prayers for the new month which took place at the Western Wall plaza this morning, some of the Women of the Wall entered the main prayer area, apparently intentionally, to create friction and provocation, and despite requests by staff and police that they pray in the women's section," the police said following the clashes on Friday.
