A member of "Women of the Wall" group wears a prayer shawl and Tefillin
A member of "Women of the Wall" group wears a prayer shawl and Tefillin (Reuters)

Vandals have spraypainted slogans on the home of one of the leaders of the liberal Women of the Wall group, which campaigns for equality of worship at Jerusalem's holy site of the Western Wall.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that officers were investigating the graffiti attack on the door and hallway leading to the apartment of Peggy Cidor, a founding member of the women's organisation, which campaigns against segregating worship at the wall by gender.

One slogan was "Torah Tag", a variation of "price tag" attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians. Another message claimed the sanctity of Jerusalem.

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish demonstrators tried to disrupt a prayer service last week at Jerusalem's Western Wall, the first such service since a landmark ruling by the Jerusalem district court.

Israeli police detained five members of Women of the Wall in April for donning male religious garments such as tallits, or shawls, and bearting tefillin (amulets) containing sacred Jewish texts. But a court ruling said that they had did not violated local custom.

The Israeli cabinet was discussing a new policy to label "price-tags" as terrorist attacks.

The term is used by Jewish settlers to describe attacks - usually carried out against Palestinians but also aimed at Christian churches and Israeli Arabs - in retribution for the perceived anti-settler actions by the Israeli government, such as demolishing settlements.