Following the announcement of Ministers Yair Lapid and Avigdor Lieberman that they will soon advance the Kosel Compromise plan, a Kan report on Sunday said that Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope) is opposed to the current plan.

In closed talks, Elkin said that the Kosel’s management must remain undivided and only the state of Israel and the Jewish Agency, and not “religious streams” can oversee the Kosel.

This is contrary to the current plan, which grants the Reform movement official control of a new egalitarian section of the Kosel.

“I don’t have a problem with the Reform section of the Kosel but on the condition that the State and the Jewish Agency manage the site,” Elkin said in closed talks. He also suggested a compromise that the Jewish Agency appoint representatives to manage the site, including Reform representatives, with the Agency maintaining ultimate control of the site.

Elkin added that if the Reform and Conservative movements are given control of a section of the Kosel it will lead to conflicts in the future, with additional religious streams, such as Gerrer or Belz, Chareidi Litvaks, or Dati Leumi all demanding control of a section of the Kosel.

On Friday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett claimed that the Kosel is being used as a well-financed political campaign intended to topple the government, without any connection to religious conviction.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)