Current Events Blog Post #1 - The Western Wall

On March 5th, The Times of Israel published the article “Blue and White Platform includes backing for Western Wall pluralisticplaza,” written by Raoul Wootliff. Wootliff is a political correspondent who focuses on political and social news about Israel. This article discusses the new political party, Blue and White which supports the proposal to establish changes in the management of Western Wall in Jerusalem (non-Orthodox Jews, likely representatives from liberal Jews and government representatives), ensures the equal division of men and women in the plaza, and construct a third plaza for the diverse Jewish and Israeli public in Jerusalem, the pluralistic plaza. Currently, the Western Wall and surrounding area is managed by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, that implements Orthodox practices like the separation of men and women during prayer. The current association is approved and supported by current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Similarly, most of his supporters are ultra-Orthodox who agree with the delay of the Blue and White proposal. This caused outrage from US Jews and Liberal Israelis who favor the changes to the Western Wall as they attempt to rehabilitate the relationship with the Diaspora through equality in the sexes and better non-Orthodox representative in the management of the wall.

The writer mentions a “party source” four times in the article. Once in the sub headline, the next when discussing the specifics about the expansion, later in detailing the specifics of the party’s call for the implementation of an agreement earlier in the year, and lastly when the Wootliff gives the Blue and White party’s reason for supportive the views of liberal and progressive Jewish communities. Unfortunately, nowhere in the article does the author mention anything more specific than the “party source,” or details when this source spoke to the press about this movement backed by the Blue and White Party. Additionally, the source remains unnamed throughout the article and fails to provide any clarity on the lack of reasoning that this source may share unconfirmed information on behalf of this new political party. To offer some credit to the author, Wootliff mentions Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid’s, a centrist leader who formed the party and had released a manifesto which mentioned that the Blue and White party would work to renew a previous agreement about the Western Wall plaza to divide it equally amongst women and men, create a third plaza to gain the approval of the Israeli and Jewish public. Furthermore, the former military chief Benny Gantz’s of the Resilience party who formed the party, and current chairman of the Blue and White party also mentioned his effort to return to a Western Wall agreement in a recent campaign speech. This is in refence to debates of an a non-Orthodox controlled portion of the wall from 2012. This in sum, these two references to earlier news suggests that the credibility of the article is not guaranteed but the information is not completely fiction either, since it is based in recent public news like a campaign speech and manifestos released to the public.

The author appears impartial towards either current political party in power (Likud) which is the center-right wing, or the newly formed Blue and White party which is center-left that is in support of the change to the management of the Western Wall. Wootliff appears impartial towards either political party because it avoids using descriptive words such as “greedy,” “controversial” or “antiquated” party when describing the Likud throughout the article. Moreover, Wootliff does not discuss the Blue and White party as one of little importance because of their newly formed standing, and this may be due to the familiarity with the leaders of the party. Lastly, the writer speaks of the issue of the Western Wall as one of historical debate and controversy rather than on of new popularity, and thus he treats the issue as a simple debate between the Orthodox and the more modern Jews, rather than a complex political or moral disagreement.

Jewish girls at the pluralistic prayer section at the Western Wall.