A bill that would ban non-Orthodox prayer at the Kosel and criminalize violations with a seven-year prison sentence is advancing in the Knesset, with a key committee expected to take it up as early as next week.

The legislation, sponsored by MK Avi Maoz of the Noam party, would grant Israel’s two chief rabbis final authority over all mekomos kedoshim. Any activity conducted contrary to their instructions, including the mixed-gender gatherings currently held at the Ezrat Yisrael section of the Kosel, would be classified as a “desecration” under the law.

The bill passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum 56-47 in March, despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu having canceled a Ministerial Committee for Legislation meeting days earlier in an apparent effort to prevent the government from officially backing it. The move was widely seen as an attempt to avoid friction with Diaspora Jewish communities. Netanyahu’s office had signaled the bill would not clear the preliminary reading. It did.

The Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, chaired by MK Simcha Rothman, will now prepare the bill for its first full Knesset reading. A date has not yet been set, but a committee spokesperson said it is expected to be scheduled as early as next week.

The Ezrat Yisrael section, located near what is known as Robinson’s Arch, currently operates in a legal gray area. It falls technically under the authority of the Kosel’s chief rabbi but is permitted to function as an egalitarian prayer space by prime ministerial order. Reform and Conservative groups have used it for years, though they have long complained of inadequate facilities and the inability to pray while touching the actual stones of the Kosel.

A separate but related bill is also in play. Legislation sponsored by Rothman that would amend the Law of Return to recognize only halachic conversions for purposes of aliyah and citizenship was slated for a committee vote Sunday but was postponed for 30 days at Netanyahu’s request. For decades, Israel has extended Law of Return eligibility to those converted by Reform and Conservative movements abroad, and since 2021, to non-Orthodox conversions performed within Israel as well. Rothman’s bill would end that.

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