Israeli police on Thursday, April 11, detained five women at a Jerusalem holy site for performing religious rituals that ultra-Orthodox Jews say are reserved for men.
The detentions came just a day after an Israeli organization proposed a compromise to diffuse tensions over the issue of women’s worship at the Western Wall. The proposal, which still has to be approved by the government, envisions establishing a new section at the site where men and women can pray together.
About 120 women arrived Thursday morning for their monthly prayer service and police detained five for wearing prayer shawls, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. He said they were later released without charge.
