Overview
- Police detained Yochi Rappaport and Tammy Gottlieb on suspicion of obstructing access at a security checkpoint, an allegation Women of the Wall denies.
- The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said activists blocked the main entrance and exit during a Rosh Chodesh Torah reading, creating dangerous crowding as thousands gathered on the first day of Ramadan.
- Women of the Wall said ushers mistreated them and argued a court precedent recognizes their monthly Torah reading as a permitted local custom.
- The detentions came a day after a rare seven-justice High Court hearing on long-pending petitions by the Masorti, Reform and Women of the Wall movements, with a ruling expected in the coming days.
- In court, state and Jerusalem municipal lawyers blamed each other for years of delays developing the Ezrat Yisrael egalitarian area, while the site’s overseers maintain a ban on private Torah scrolls that petitioners say leaves women without access available to men.