Was This Knesset Aide’s Dress Too Short for New Modesty Code?
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
JERUSALEM — A Knesset aide was detained from entering the government building in Jerusalem after her dress was deemed too short under the parliamentary dress code.
Shaked Hasson, an adviser to Zionist Union lawmaker Merav Michaeli, wore a mid-thigh length dress and leggings.
She told Haaretz that five male Knesset guards examined her outfit before determining that it was inappropriate.
“As I was entering the Knesset a guard stopped me and said they have a dress code they adhere to very strictly these days, and that I was in violation of the rules,” Hasson told Haaretz. “I insisted that I was properly dressed. He called another guy and in all five different workers came to check out how I was dressed. I felt humiliated. It was very unpleasant,” she said.
Michaeli said in a post on Facebook that she does “not approve of the modesty squads guarding the entrance to the Knesset.”
“The Knesset dress code cannot be used a means to oppress women and I hope that we won’t have to engage in a struggle over this issue,” Michaeli said.
In November the Knesset issued a revised dress code, banning visitors and employees from wearing miniskirts and short dresses. Other banned articles of clothing include tank tops, cropped tops, shorts and three-quarter length pants, ripped pants, shirts with political slogans, flip flops and open back clogs, according to the Knesset website. The rules apply to those over the age of 14.
The Knesset guards reportedly have been tasked with enforcing the dress code.
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