After left-wing activists disrupted Yom Kippur prayers, National Security Minister announces he will pray in central square in Tel Aviv.
By World Israel News Staff
Following Yom Kippur clashes in Tel Aviv between Orthodox Jewish worshippers and secular activists, National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he will pray in the liberal city’s central Dizengoff Square this Thursday.
“On this Yom Kippur we saw haters trying to expel Judaism from the public sphere. Israel is a Jewish state! and democratic,” Ben-Gvir wrote on social media platform X, shortly after the holiday ended on Monday evening.
“This coming Thursday I will hold an evening prayer in [Dizengoff] Square, the public is invited!” he added.
Although he did not elaborate further, Ben-Gvir was likely referring to traditional Orthodox prayer, which requires gender segregation.
An anonymous official from the Tel Aviv municipality reacted with their own furious statement to Ben-Gvir’s announcement, telling Hebrew-language media outlets that “it is absurd that ministers in the government call for ignoring the court’s decisions [banning separation by sex in public].”
The official bemoaned what they said would be additional use of police resources to safeguard Ben-Gvir’s prayer session from left-wing protesters, calling it “absurd that the municipality needs to secure a protest prayer organized by a minister in the government.”
The Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, a Modern Orthodox umbrella group that organized numerous holiday prayers throughout Israel, called the Tel Aviv chaos “painful to witness but very much the exception to the rule of what most Israelis experienced over Yom Kippur.”
The group said in a statement that the clashes were a “fringe event” and stressed that “the vast majority of Israelis, both religious and secular, were able to commemorate the day in a spirit of holiness.”
“With the deeply unfortunate exception of what occurred in Tel Aviv, the people of Israel were blessed to enjoy a Yom Kippur defined by those ideals of unity and holiness,” Tzohar added.
“This is what deserves to be in the headlines and what should really be remembered at the end of this day.”
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