After the Likud party offered the closure of the egalitarian prayer area near the Kosel in exchange for the Noam party pulling out of the election race, Noam officials submitted their demands to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Yediot Achronot reports on Sunday. The list of demands includes calling for jail terms for Women of the Wall and the return of responsibility over the Kosel to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Noam wants a seven-year jail term for Women of the Wall (WoW), who monthly come to the Kosel and act in violation of numerous High Court of Justice decisions. The party demands the Minister of Religious Services define WoW as an organization which defames the Kosel and the law protecting Israel’s holy sites, and therefore; the party feels the violators must serve heavy prison terms.

The party demands trashing plans to divide the area to accommodate egalitarian prayer and to return jurisdiction over the Kosel to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel exclusively.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)