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Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let her resign from the ministerial panel to approve the mixed prayer area on the Wailing Wall. Shaked's request came after the Minister of Culture and Sport, Miri Regev, resigned as head of the panel.
Netanyahu calls on Likud ministers to take over Shaked, but no one agrees, probably for fear of worsening their electoral base, who is opposed to the initiative.
Regev resigned from the committee on Thursday, saying that his conscience does not allow him to convene the committee and approve the work of preparation of the historic archaeological site for mixed prayer, and that she does not want see women wearing prayer shawls in the Wailing Wall.
Sunday, Regev addressed the Reformed Jews saying, "I have encountered reforms in Argentina." Reform in Argentina: Here in Israel, they should behave as if they were in Israel.
Shaked was under pressure from rabbis to oppose the expansion of the egalitarian prayer space. In addition to her and Regev, the committee includes Minister of Religious Services David Azoulay (Shas). If Netanyahu replaced Regev and Azoulay opposed the plan, Shaked would become the pivotal vote. Netanyahu can now replace Shaked with a minister who would vote for the expansion, like Yuval Steinitz or Tzachi Hanegbi.
Netanyahu's office wishes to complete the bureaucracy with the approval of the expansion, since the state has pledged before the High Court of Justice to do so. They fear that if they just approve of the expansion, the High Court will rule in favor of a common prayer in the main space – a decision that could lead to a deep crisis with the ultra-Orthodox parties.
It was also reported Sunday that a group of archaeologists is planning to petition the High Court against the government's attempts to replace Regev as the head of the committee.
The group's leader, Professor Dan Bahat, former archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority and furrier of the Western Wall tunnel, opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for the Robinson area prayer area, citing irreparable damage to the site.
In June 2017, the government decided to suspend a plan to establish an equalitarian prayer space at the Western Wall, following pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties. This goes against the commitments made to representatives of the reformist and conservative movements in Israel and the United States.
After the cancellation of this agreement and the failure of reconciliation attempts with the reform movement in the United States, Netanyahu announces the extension of the prayer area at the southern end of the Kotel with 18 million shekels ($ 5 million) of public funds. This work began last year and the deputy secretary of the cabinet, Ronen Peretz, was in charge of the matter.
In April, the right-wing non-profit organization B & Tzedek filed a petition in the High Court against the Antiquities Authority, claiming that the work done was illegal. The petition was supported by a document from the Government's Official Archaeological Council on the damage done to the historic site by the work to widen the prayer space.
Last week, Haaretz reported that Netanyahu was pressuring Regev to approve the job. After consulting with several religious figures, Regev decided to resign from the committee.
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