Anat Hoffman arrested for singing at the Western Wall

Anat Hoffman the chairwoman of the Women of the Wall activist movement was recently charged and arrested for breaking Israeli law by singing at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Reports from the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and numerous other publications state that Hoffman was charged with disturbing the peace by illegally reciting the Shema prayer out loud at the Western Wall. She was accordingly arrested, detained overnight and has been given a restraining order from the wall that will last for 30 days. The offence she was charged with was violating is a Supreme Court law, the criteria of which forbids religious practice that is "contrary to accepted practice" which may in turn serve to "hurt the feelings of other worshippers." "I was arrested, I was strip searched, handcuffed and leg-cuffed, and I had to sleep on the floor. My wrists were bruised from being dragged on the floor," Hoffman said. "I'm a tough cookie, but I was just so miserable," she continued, "and for what? I was with the Hadassah women saying Sh'ma Yisrael." Two other women were also arrested at the Wall on Wednesday, they were Lesley Sachs who is director of Women of the Wall and Rachel Cohen-Yeshurun.