Club to compensate partygoers for discrimination
Court orders night club to pay NIS 35,000 to two men who were denied entrance due to their dark skin
A central Israeli night club was ordered to pay NIS 35,000 ($9,450) in damages after it refused entry to two partygoers due to their dark skin tone.
The Elyakhin residents, Ziv Sayag and attorney Elad Ovadia, said that they attempted to enter the Kinsey club, located near Hadera, on two separate occasions, but failed to pass the selector's scrutiny.
The first time around, they claimed, the hostess told them that the club was closed for a private party. A friend of theirs, who appears Ashkenazi, arrived minutes later and was allowed in. Even then, the hostess would not allow them in and would not explain why.
Kinsey club (Photo: Ido Erez)
The two decided to try their luck again on a later date, but were again refused entrance under the pretext that the club was closed for a private party, this time by a different hostess. Yet again, Sayag and Ovadia 's fair-skinned friend was allowed in, no questions asked.
'You're not important to the club'
When they asked the hostess to explain, she told them that "There are people who are more important to the club, and you are not among them."
The plaintiffs said that they were humiliated by the experience.
The club's owner, Ehud Israeli, rejected Sayag and Ovadia's accusations, claiming that the two have been let into the club several times before. The defense claimed that people of all religions, nationalities and skin tones frequent the establishment.
According to the defense, the hostess is only instructed to deny anyone entrance if she recognizes "hints of violence." It was also claimed that entrance to the club is by reservation only, and the plaintiffs did not make a reservation.
Hadera Magistrate's Court Judge Nasser Jahsha ruled that "The plaintiffs proved that they were denied entrance due to discrimination based on their race or national origin." He asserted that the club wronged Sayag and Ovadia, ordering the owner to compensate each one with NIS 15,000 ($4,050) and cover their legal fees.
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