Editing Western Wall (section)

===Jewish===
[[File:A man prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|right|A Jew praying at the Western Wall]]

Most Jews, religious and secular, consider the wall to be important to the Jewish people since it was originally built to hold the [[Second Temple]]. They consider the capture of the wall by Israel in 1967 as a historic event since it restored Jewish access to the site after a 19-year gap.<ref name=TOS>[[Berel Wein|Wein, Berel]]. ''Triumph of Survival''; Section VIII – The Modern Jew 1958–1988, p. 451.</ref>

Israeli philosopher [[Yeshayahu Leibowitz]] referred to the attitude towards the Western Wall as "idolatry"<ref name="huffpost.com">{{Cite web|author= Goshen-Gottstein, Alon|title=Is the Western Wall a Kind of Idolatry?|date=June 26, 2017|publisher=Huffington Post|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/is-the-western-wall-a-kind-of-idolatry_b_59515459e4b0c85b96c65ba1|access-date=July 16, 2023}}</ref> and publicly decried the Israelis' triumphalism following the 1967 victory.<ref>{{cite news |last= Leibovitz |first= Liel |title= Stop Yeshayahu Leibowitz! By failing to name a street after the controversial philosopher, the city of Jerusalem proved he was right |work= Tablet Magazine |date= 11 April 2013 |url= https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/129034/stop-yeshayahu-leibowitz |access-date=2 August 2019}}</ref>

[[Dan Bahat]], former district archaeologist of Jerusalem who headed the Western Wall Tunnel excavations in the years 1986–2007, decried in 2018 the transformation of this iconic historical site into a regulated place of worship: "The Western Wall is sacrosanct. But out of a national monument, it has become a synagogue."<ref name= DB>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-evidence-of-temples-destruction-being-destroyed-by-a-bid-for-jewish-unity/ "Is evidence of Temple’s destruction being destroyed by a bid for Jewish unity?"] Amanda Borschel-Dan for ''The Times of Israel'', 22 July 2018. Retrieved 8 Oct 2024.</ref>