Alalo: Municipality offending women
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Jerusalem to hold segregated event
'Khamenei can't hold a candle to us here,' says councilman about show honoring security forces
Jerusalem Municipality announced Sunday it would be holding an event honoring security forces in which segregation will be enforced, with ticket ads saying men would be seated in the main hall and women in the gallery. The announcement came just a few hours after a judge said he believed the High Court would not reject segregated seating on haredi buses.
"Khameinei can't hold a candle to us here in Jerusalem," Meretz Councilman Yosef (Pepe) Alalo told Ynet. "It is unacceptable that a public event funded by taxpayers' money be so offensive towards women."
Earlier
Shahar Haselkorn
Justice Elyakim Rubinstein says segregation of sexes on haredi bus lines will be deemed voluntary
Alalo also directed his ire at the kosher bus lines and the segregation on haredi neighborhood streets and in stores. "The municipality must respect the public and cancel the segregation," he said.
But Jerusalem Municipality responded by saying the event's guest of honor, haredi singer Yakov Shwekey, had demanded that the show be segregated. "The producers responded to his demand to hold the event with separate seating," a municipality statement said.
Earlier Sunday Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said the High Court of Justice would most likely refrain from banning gender segregation on haredi bus routes, and would accept the Transport Ministry's recommendation to make the separation between sexes voluntary rather than compulsory.
In line with the recommendation, Transportation Ministry officers will monitor buses serving the ultra-Orthodox population to make sure that no violence against female passengers takes place.
"Our tendency is to go with the conclusions that the Transportation Minister has adopted," Rubinstein said. "We are aware that there are reservations, but in our opinion the conclusions are balanced."
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