World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder condemned the actions of a group of ultra-Orthodox protesters at the Western Wall on Friday.
“I am disgusted by the hatred, intolerance, bigotry and, yes, antisemitism displayed yet again by thousands of ultra-Orthodox men and women who desecrated a bat mitzvah service and violated the right of 12-year-old Lucia da Silva to practice our faith freely in what is supposed to be the beating heart of the entire Jewish people,” he said.
“My heart goes out to Lucia and her family, and I want to reassure her that the thugs who disrupted her bat mitzvah service at the Western Wall represent an aberrant minority who must be condemned by all who believe in the unity of the Jewish people.”
He further expressed concern over the “continued failure” of the Israel Police at the Western Wall to prevent these occurrences.
"Kotel Crises"
Indeed, the past few weeks have seen a major spike in what is now coined the Kotel Crisis, involving multiple incidents that have turned violent in which egalitarian prayer was beseeched by those who oppose non-Orthodox Jewish faiths.
"I call on the Israeli and Jerusalem authorities to undertake meaningful measures to protect non-Orthodox Jews who wish to pray at the Kotel. The future of the Jewish people is at stake,” Lauder concluded.
"I call on the Israeli and Jerusalem authorities to undertake meaningful measures to protect non-Orthodox Jews who wish to pray at the Kotel. The future of the Jewish people is at stake."
Ronald S. Lauder