Lawmakers voted 56-47 Wednesday afternoon in favor of the preliminary reading of a bill giving the Chief Rabbinate full control over prayer at all parts of the Western Wall, drawing harsh condemnation from progressive Jewish groups, which condemned the controversial legislation as “patronizing and antisemitic.”

The bill, sponsored by far-right Noam MK Avi Maoz, is intended to undercut last Thursday’s High Court of Justice ruling that the state must move forward with the upgrade of the Western Wall egalitarian plaza, which would allow non-Orthodox prayers at a lesser-used portion of the holy site. The stalled upgrade was part of the Western Wall Compromise agreed to by Netanyahu’s government a decade ago, which called for a pluralistic prayer platform at the site.

The new bill would give the country’s two chief rabbis, both Orthodox, ultimate authority over Jewish holy sites including the so-called Ezrat Israel, which has been used as an egalitarian prayer area, and define any activity at the site contrary to their instructions, such as non-Orthodox worship, as a “desecration.”

The law currently states that desecration of a holy place carries a penalty of seven years in prison.

Days ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in order to prevent the government from backing the bill in an apparent bid to avoid pushback from Diaspora Jews.

Netanyahu ultimately allowed members of his coalition to vote freely, although several Likud lawmakers, including Yuli Edelstein and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, ended up skipping the vote.

Celebrating the passage of his bill “preserving” Israel’s holy sites, Maoz said that it would “unify the Jewish people, both those in Israel and those in the Diaspora.”

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, who also serves as religious services minister, likewise praised the bill, calling on lawmakers to quickly pass it into law in order to “put an end to the High Court’s interference........

© The Times of Israel