Jerusalem police make embarrassing image of themselves by restricting women's prayer citations at Western Wall

Once again, the police in Jerusalem are giving a bad image to themselves by restricting women's rights to say kaddish:

The Women of the Wall attacked Jerusalem District Police Chief Yossi Pariente's newest prohibitions on Thursday, which included the prohibition of women from from saying certain prayers such as the kaddish at the Wailing Wall.

The kaddish is a traditional Jewish prayer of mourning.

Anat Hoffman, the group's spokeswoman, was particularly incensed as the new directives were released before the month of Iyar, which in the Jewish calender include Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as the day of remembrance for Israeli soldiers who have fallen defending Israel, and Independence day.

Now again, I'm not very impressed with Hoffman herself, because she does have a questionable character. But that's still no excuse for taking steps that are more or less an assault on free speech, and what the Jerusalem police chief is doing is an embarrassment, making themselves look ridiculous with their mountains out of molehills. This kind of law abuse has got to stop.