American Spectator contributing editor, Jay Homnick wins the award for the pot calling the kettle black. He charges Barack Obama with inappropriately “politicizing” the Western Wall and somehow violating its sanctity:

“The Jewish tradition invests it (Western Wall) with a unique sanctity. It is said to have been the westernmost barrier of the Temple campus,” states Homnick.
“As children, we were all taught the Midrash that says it was built exclusively from the donations of the poor. For this reason, God’s presence always hovers there and it can never be destroyed by human hands. But, it apparently can be brought down a few pegs of dignity by being used as a prop for a political photo-op.”

Homnick describes himself as a commentator and humorist. There is nothing funny about his observations, and the only meaningful commentary which I can find in his comments is his concern about the abuse of a religious tradition for particular partisan ends — which is precisley what he is guilty of doing! I guess that’s why he is so sensitive to Obama doing just that.
Mr. Homnick provides a shining example of the pot calling the kettle black. And he is not even getting his Jewish history right. The massive expansion of the Temple compound during the reign of King Herod the Great, was one of the largest politically motivated public works projects in the entire Roman Empire. So for better or worse, the oldest tradition of the Western Wall is that of marrying politics and religion. Sorry, Mr. Homnick. But even if they never told you that part of the story, that’s just the way it was.