Residents of Mea Shearim walk through the Arab quarter of old Jerusalem on there way to the wailing wall. Late at night the empty streets are constantly patrolled by heavily armed soldiers who guarantee a safe passage.

Many haredim are fundamentally opposed to a secular, modern, pre-messianic Jewish state. A minority, are either ardently or passively Zionist. In 1947, Agudat Israel attempted to dissuade the General Assembly of the United Nations from voting in favor of the partition of Palestine. To this day, Agudat Israel members run for election and sit in the Knesset, but they refuse to accept any official ministerial post in the Israeli cabinet, and remain steadfast in their anti-Zionist ideology. Though resistant to active participation and affiliation with Israel's mostly secular democracy, haredi political groups function with the aim of aligning Israel's policies with halakhah, or Jewish law, as well as insuring that haredi schools and institutions continue to receive government funding.

The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel (Hebrew: הַכֹּתֶל הַמַּעֲרָבִי, is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount. It is a remnant of the ancient wall that surrounded the Jewish Temple's courtyard, and is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism outside of the Temple Mount itself. Just over half the wall, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from the end of the Second Temple period, commonly believed to have been constructed around 19 BCE by Herod the Great.