Parents and teachers at a secular public school in Beit Shemesh are protesting the partitioning of half of the building for a haredi Orthodox girls’ school. A floor for the building was separated for use by the school, called Mishkenot Daat, and city construction workers erected an 8-foot-high wall down the middle of the schoolyard…
Are the days numbered for second-class citizenship for women in Israel? Following two announcements in two days, it seems the exclusion of women from Israel’s public sphere may finally be nearing an end. The Attorney General Wednesday recommended criminalizing behavior that stops women from receiving “public services with equal conditions.” And today, Justice Minister Tzipi…
El Al passengers are noting a recent phenomenon involving clusters of ultra-Orthodox men approaching female passengers prior to take-off and requesting to switch seats, according to El Al customers and tour operators. While the phenomenon of lone Haredi men approaching female passengers is not new, and has in fact gone on for years, large groups…
Over the past 13 years there has been a 40 percent rise in the number of elementary-school students in Israel’s state religious system whose classes are segregated by gender. The claim is made in a recent study by Ariel Finkelshtain, a researcher for Ne’emanei Torah Va’Avodah, an organization that describes itself as a religious-Zionist movement…
Police reportedly have arrested a haredi Orthodox teen who harassed a woman for not sitting in the back of a bus. Noa Kantman, 22, of Safed, said she was modestly dressed in a skirt when she boarded the Egged bus heading for Ashdod on Feb. 15 and sat in the seat next to the driver….
The American legal system decided decades ago that there is no such thing as “separate but equal.” Segregation is just a fancy word for discrimination. And being forced to the back of a plane — or a bus — is the same as saying you’re not good enough to sit in the front. Debra Ryder,…
The Israel Museum vehemently denies a report that it plans to introduce gender-segregated viewing hours. The venerable Jerusalem institution says it will remain open to all during regular hours, but may consider requests from single-sex private groups to visit after closing time or on Tuesdays, when it is normally shut. “The Israel Museum does not…
During the Jewish festival season, which finished yesterday here in Israel (and draws to a close tonight in the States), thousands have descended on the Western Wall. All sorts have made their way to the popular pilgrimage site, from secular to Haredi Jews, as well as a sizable contingency of Christians from around the world…
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