Just be easier if they all moved to Iran im sure they would feel at home there !

What she has to say now ?

If they want to impose apartheid on women, let them do it with their own funds on their own private bus system. It is not in the state's interest nor in the taxpayer's interest to fund buses or anything else for that matter that discriminates or segregates.

why do the religious want this so badly?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3725082,00.html

If buses are regularly packed, kind of like the subway in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m_jK0lJfzY then, it makes sense to have separate seating. I would guess that chareidim live in population dense neighborhoods, and do not have as many cars as average, and hence take buses frequently. Thus, it makes sense for lines that serve them to provide separate seating. Of course, this does not justify idiots pushing around women who decide to sit on the wrong side. (I think I remember reading Naomi Raegen's account of what happened when she did that...)

said "Separate bus for women" before they got on, and the bus came back full of stickers at night, the issue would be settled.

Do you know why Sefardic Jews are so traditional? Do you know why even secular Sefardic Jews are more traditional that Ashkenazic seculars? Because they grew up in Arab countries and have a tradition to respect religion, unlike the secular ashkenazim who strive to act like atheistic goyim! So living in Iran would be better if they had a normal leader who did not hate Jews. We Taimanin had it good in Yemen but Hashem did not give us Yemen , he gave us Eretz Yisroel! In Yemen, in Jerba, etc. all Jews practiced modesty Maybe it is you who should go live with the immodest goyim in America France etc.

If Haredi women wish to travel segregated, thats well and good, but the general public should not be compelled to conform to these stringent practices. And I still dont understand why women, usually with small children and pekalech are not placed in the more accessible front of the bus.

It's not state-owned or state-funded - at most, the state defines the scope of the service that it *must* give to the public - anything beyond that is up to Egged.

As a VERY secular Jew, I have no issue - and neither do my friends - as to separate buses, Egged, Dan, and the private carriers all have sufficient buses to accommodate this. "Apartheid on women?" Spare us the self-righteous indignation. Women in the States have their own desires and demands which are routinely met. VIOLENT crime AGAINST women in the US is climbing dramatically and your ONLY issue is our providing our religious female citizens with an ability to allow their traveling on a bus with no male presence as is their policy? We are a JEWISH State and that means ALL Jews, Haredi or secular, Sabra, Anglo, Yemeni, Indian, or African. YOU have an obvious issue with that and I am grateful that you are on the "East Coast" and not here.

This is why I wish Israel was founded as a Jewish state without the orthodox extremests. It sucks that your the torah says your supposed to touch strangers, but it's a public bus! If bumping into someone on the bus bothers you, get a car or walk!

Don't men have the right, recognized in all advanced nations, to poke, squeeze and if possible pinch women, especially in the breasts and buttocks? Doesn't Israel want to catch up to the secular nations, or does it want to be old fashioned. Why do you think the male-dominated bus companies arrange for buses to be overcrowded?

If the hareidi men want to sit separately, let them sit in the back. They can also put sunglasses on as they walk to the back of the bus

Never heard anything so stupid..take a taxi...

Sorry Josh, but there is no such thing as a Jewish state without the Torah and Orthodox Jews. That is Judaism. Try learning about, rather than being afraid of it.

this is one of the more ridiculous articles I am afraid. The 'reasons' given, quoting women in Europe, the US etc have little to do with this issue. ....It is hardly the same as haredi women not wanting to be 'rubbed against men'.... being squeezed between women and rubbed against is so much better'? I think there is something wrong when women- or men have to be afraid of being 'rubbed against' religious or not. Sickos have no place on a public bus. Haredi women are the 'daughters of kings'? so why are they riding on a bus with the common people? Why not just a bus for women? A separate bus for men? one for children? How is segregation suppose to work? The front of the bus for men? The back for the women? How about common secular people, sitting next to religious people? Does this not offend you to be together with women who are not wearing hats and scarves? How about foreign tourists who are not Jewish? I see an ongoing and never ending demand coming up. How much time does a haredi spend on a public bus? 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes? Just how bad can this be for a religious person? Next the airlines have to provide seperate flights?-

Yes Egged is a "private" cooperative , but also SUBSIDISED by the State [ wikipedia ] . So also our money . The State pays also the fares of the soldiers , a fixed amount . And the State also regulates the fares people have to pay .

most of the women who lik e the se part e buses usually go by taxi. where does rebezin grossman travel by bus. most of the women do not like it. and teenagers yell at older women to go to the ba ck. it is a chillul hashem

you are obviously in the wrong country, Saadiah. You would prefer to live in Iran? Live in an Arab country? Are you serious? The 'immodest goyim' in America, France... do not routinely 'rub against women', why is this such a problem in Israel? If this is such a hardship and pain riding on the same bus with men and secular people- why not walk, or get your own buses? Why demand the state provide it? or worse- a privately owned company?

maybe THAT is the problem: men not being able to control their urges- weaklings who have to 'rub against women' on a bus, pinch wome'ns butts...where have YOU been in the past 30 or so years? It is NOT permissible to molest women anywhere- not even Washington DC.... most secular nations, the ones you so hate and despise, have laws against molesters- maybe Israel should catch up with this. Men who cannot control themselves have no business being in a public place- they are a danger to women - AND children. Give the women the buses, make the men walk off their sexual frustrations, LOL would that work for you, AK in Washington DC?

Do they also want to live in a ghetto with a wall? Let them buy their own buses and segregate them, not segregate public buses.

Rav Moshe wrote a tshuva on riding public transportation stating (in not so many words) that if you have inappropriate feelings towards someone when you accidentally bump into him/her, you really have bigger problems then whether or not your bus is segregated. Why can't we all behave like rational adults?

... and Israel. Good for you! Keep going!

And the state funds soldiers' pay. But at the same time, Haredim are also tax-paying citizens of Israel, and have their own rights to public services - if the state subsidies Egged with *their* taxes as well, then why haven't they been receiving the services they needed for so long, instead being forced to abandon modesty constraints *and* paying for the "pleasure"?

And just like some Ashkenazim strove to emulate the atheistic European Goyim, it is not inconceivable that some of the Sephardic Jews strove to emulate the religiously minded Arab/Islamic Goyim.

That way they can avoid riding a bus where women might be present, but at the same time enjoy the satisfaction of riding on something wiggling its hips without the danger of commiting fornication.