Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana have decided to indefinitely freeze the implementation of the Kosel Compromise Plan, which would have partially ceded control of the Kosel to Reform groups, Times of Israel reported on Sunday morning.

According to the report, Kahana told his aides over the weekend, “we have decided to not deal with this now, period. The Kotel compromise has become a focus for incitement and hatred, especially by people from Likud, who are latching onto it. We cannot play into their hands. We’re freezing everything at the moment. We’re not touching it.”

The Kosel Plan was included in the coalition agreements signed in June and the left-wing members of the government have been pushing for the plan’s fulfillment. On the other hand, at least two members of the coalition are opposed to the plan, including Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin (New Hope) and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina).

Even Kahana made comments last month that seemed to retract his support for the Kosel Plan. “The vast majority of Jews in Eretz Yisrael are Orthodox Jews,” Kahana said in an interview with Kan News. “I don’t think that we need to allow other streams to run the Kosel. We can reach an agreement without ceding control of the Kosel to a fringe group.”

The real reason that the plan is being dropped is that Bennett fears the consequences of implementing a controversial plan over which the Chareidim have vowed to take to the streets in the thousands rather than allow it to be actualized. And unlike the giyur reform plan, which is a top priority for the real boss of the government – Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman – no coalition members have vowed to break up the government if the Kosel Plan is not implemented.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)