Overview
- An expanded seven‑justice High Court panel ordered the state and Jerusalem Municipality to advance permits and improvements for the Ezrat Yisrael egalitarian plaza and to report progress within 90 days.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled a Ministerial Committee for Legislation meeting on the measure, but MK Avi Maoz plans to bring his private bill to a preliminary Knesset reading this week.
- Justice Minister Yariv Levin said he will vote for the bill in the plenum, and coalition leaders told members they may vote according to conscience.
- Haredi and right‑wing parties publicly pledged support for the legislation, which would place all Western Wall prayer arrangements under the Chief Rabbinate and criminalize practices it deems a desecration with penalties of up to seven years in prison.
- Reports attribute Netanyahu’s cancellation in part to pressure from U.S. Reform organizations, and pluralism advocates warn the bill could undercut the 2016 Western Wall compromise and blunt the court‑mandated upgrades even at an initial reading stage.