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 wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries, the earliest source mentioning Jewish attachment to the site dating from the 4th century. From the mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its immediate area were made by various Jews, but none were successful. With the rise of the Zionist movement in the early 20th century, the wall became a source of friction between the Jewish community and the Muslim religious leadership, who were worried that the wall was being used to further Jewish nationalistic claims to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. Outbreaks of violence at the foot of the wall became commonplace and an international commission was convened in 1930 to determine the rights and claims of Muslims and Jews in connection with the wall. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the wall came under Jordanian control and Jews were barred from the site for 19 years until Israel captured the Old City in 1967.