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Flyer calling for separation on light rail

Haredim call for 'voluntary separation' on Jerusalem's light rail

With the HCJ's prohibition on gender-based separation of sitting on public transport and Jerusalem's light rail soon to be launched, Jerusalemite Haredim are resorting to urging women to 'voluntarily' sit at the back of the light rail's car to keep it 'pure and modest.'

A new ultra-Orthodox initiative is calling for a voluntary separation of men and women on Jerusalem's light rail.

 

  

Even before the light rail started operating in the capital in 2011, Haredi politicos examined the possibility of applying the model that exists in some bus lines in the city—in which ultra-Orthodox men sit at the front of the bus, while women are relegated to the back—to the train service as well.

 

The proposal had the support of senior officials in CityPass, the company that operates the light rail in Jerusalem. But the High Court determined in January 2011 that this model was illegal, and the proposal was shelved.

 

Flyer includes a photo marking the desired car for Haredi men
Flyer includes a photo marking the desired car for Haredi men

 

Now, after six and a half years in which men and women have been sharing train cars, the Haredi public is being urged to enact the separation voluntarily, without the matter being officially recognized.

 

The upcoming intermediate days of Passover are expected to bring an increase in public transportation use in the capital. In anticipation of that, flyers have been handed out in synagogues and Haredi neighborhoods across Jerusalem advocating for the separation.

 

"Dear Jew, you must have had the opportunity to travel on the light rail in Jerusalem, and you must have encountered the lack of modesty prevalent there, particularly during summer time," the flyer reads. "No more! Starting today, with G-d's help, we will all gather at the front of the last car during every train ride (in pleasantness and without causing Chillul Hashem, heaven forbid)."

 

The organizers of this initiative expect that "in this way, by gathering all of the sons of Torah there, a more modest and pure atmosphere will be created there."

 

They called on the men to influence the women in their families. "You should ask the dear daughters of your home to choose a different place to sit in," they wrote.

 

The flyer also includes a photo of the light rail with a red circle marking the preferable car.

 

An old trick

The Yerushalmim municipal party was outraged by the proposal, alluding it is an old trick.

 

"We know this trick, we were not born yesterday," they fumed. "Such initiatives start in a 'voluntary' manner and seemingly pleasantly, but very quickly facts are set on the ground, with separate cars and men spitting and forcing women to sit at the back.

 

"We saw that happening on buses and it should not be allowed to happen on the light rail."

 

The party's chairwoman, Fleur Hassan-Nahum, added that "men are not animals, and there is no reason why they should not be in the same car with a woman. One must stop treating women as objects. If there is someone who cannot control himself, it is his problem and not the public's. Such a person is invited to go on foot."

 

The Israel Women's Lobby reiterated the party's assertions, noting that "the last time they pleasantly asked women to move to the back on public transportation, it ended with harsh verbal violence and concern for the safety of women," bringing up as example the case of Tanya Rosenblit—an Ashdod resident who refused to sit at the back of a bus despite the demands of ultra-Orthodox passengers and received threats on her life in response.

 

The lobby concluded by emphasizing that "the High Court of Justice has absolutely prohibited asking or instructing women to travel in public transportation."

 

In 2011, the HCJ ruled that "Public transportation operators (like any other person) are not permitted to tell, ask or instruct women where to sit on the bus simply because they are women, or what they should wear, and they are allowed to sit wherever they please," adding any operator that does "will be subject to criminal penalties."

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.24.18, 18:04
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