Lapid apologises to American boy
Lapid called the violent protests "outrageous" and said that every Jew should be able to pray as they see fit.
Prime Minister Yair Lapid called one of the American boys whose Western Wall bar mitzvahs were overrun by religious zealots last month, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Monday.
Last month, dozens of mostly ultra-Orthodox, or Charedi, young men and boys entered the egalitarian section of the Western Wall, also known as Ezrat Yisrael or Robinson’s Arch, in order to disrupt a number of bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies being held there by American families.
The demonstrators blew whistles to drown out the prayer services, called those present “Nazis”, “Christians”, and “animals”, and ripped up prayer books. Police officers were present, but generally refrained from intervening, save for some cases of direct physical violence.
In the phone call, Lapid called the violent protests “outrageous” and said that every Jew should be able to pray as they see fit, the source said, speaking to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity.
The PM told the boy, Seth Mann of Las Vegas, that the protests “did not represent the State of Israel, the people of Israel, or the government of Israel,” said the source, who was on the line.
Parents Joel and Sari Mann, the latter of whom is the Nevada state director of the pro-Israel AIPAC lobby, were also on the line. “We were very encouraged to hear the Prime Minister’s words and hope our experience, as painful as it was, will help facilitate a change to how Jews are allowed to pray at the Kotel,” Mann’s father Joel told The Times of Israel after the call.
“It meant a great deal to me that the prime minister took the time to reach out to Seth.”
Lapid also wished Mann a mazal tov on his bar mitzvah.
Though several other families were also at the Western Wall that day, the Manns have been the most public in voicing their disappointment at the violent disruptions and the lack of intervention by police.
While applauding Lapid, former head of the Conservative movement in Israel, Yizhar Hess, called on him to advance the so-called Western Wall compromise, a deal that would give non-Orthodox streams of Judaism official representation in the management of the holy site.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
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