“There was no
lack of aggression or much restraint shown, so there’s no real reason not
to read from the Sefer Torah. Women of the Wall won’t back down in the face of bullying; the people
who should be punished for disturbing the peace are the people who
disturb the peace, not the Women of the Wall who are just seeking to
conduct their prayer service.”
The Jerusalem Post reports:
…Following a meeting last month with Bennett and Ben-Dahan, WoW [Women of the Wall] agreed not to read from the Torah as a compromise to help lower tensions.
The group now says that since its prayer service was met with hostile and at times violent protest from haredi demonstrators it no longer sees a reason to refrain from reading from the Sefer Torah.
Thousands of haredi school girls packed into the women’s section of the Western Wall last month to protest WoW’s service [and to block WoW’s access to the Kotel], the first ever in which the group was legally able to don prayer shawls and tefillin without fear of arrest by the police.
The schoolgirls were also joined by a large presence of haredi boys and men who scuffled with the police. Various objects were also hurled at the WoW worshipers.
“There was no lack of aggression or much restraint shown so there’s no real reason not to read from the Sefer Torah,” a spokeswoman for WoW said on Wednesday. “Women of the Wall won’t back down in the face of bullying; the people who should be punished for disturbing the peace are the people who disturb the peace, not the Women of the Wall who are just seeking to conduct their prayer service.”…