Newsroom:
Gender Equality
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CNS News
August 4, 2022A court ruling against forced segregation on buses in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods was prompted by a petition instigated by the Reform Movement's Israel Religious Action Center. On those routes, "women were required to use the back door and sit in the back of the bus, while men entered through the front door and sat in the front," reported Haaretz.
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The Times of Israel
June 14, 2022Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, which helped file the lawsuit, called the outcome “an important ruling, and an additional step toward gender equality in the public domain.”
“Women are not a disruption, and we should be free to sit wherever we choose – on buses, airplanes, and trains,” Hoffman said in a Monday statement from the IRAC.
As part of the agreement, all Israel Railways employees or service providers are to be given clear instructions that they are forbidden from asking anyone to change seats, even for the sake of prayers.
“This means that no railcar can be commandeered and turned into a synagogue thereby barring other passengers, especially women, from sitting in that car,” the statement said.
The IRAC together with the Israel Women’s Network filed the lawsuit on behalf of Melitz after the 2018 incident when a rail worker demanded that she move seats. The lawsuit had demanded NIS 66,969 ($19,584) as a violation of the Prohibition Against Discrimination Act.
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Globes
June 13, 2022Adv. Miri Nachias of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Reform Movement and Israel Women's Network (IWN) legal department director Adv. Gali Zinger represented Melitz and said, "This important and significant ruling that was handed down today is another step in the uncompromising campaign by IRAC and IWN against the exclusion of women."
They added, "The ruling establishes what ought to be clear in our society, that railway employees may not instruct or even ask women to move because their presence bothers some man, even when male passengers choose to pray in the carriage. It is painful that we are still forced to fight over this in the courts, and we are happy that the court has made clear what a railway guard should understand for himself. The presence of women does not 'harm modesty.' Our presence is part of the public space, and we shall not be moved."
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The Times of Israel
May 19, 2022The Israel Religious Action Center said Wednesday it was seeking NIS 345,000 ($100,000) in damages from the Behadrei Haredim website for a picture it ran last year of female leaders of Jewish movements meeting with President Isaac Herzog, in which the faces of the women were digitally smudged.
The suit was filed Monday on behalf of Anna Kislanski, CEO of the Reform Movement in Israel; IRAC director Orly Erez-Likhovski; Rakefet Ginsburg, who leads the Conservative Movement in Israel; Yochi Rappeport, executive director of Women of the Wall; and WoW deputy leader Tammy Gottlieb.
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The Times of Israel
May 18, 2022The Israel Religious Action Center says it is seeking NIS 345,000 ($100,000) in damages from B’hadrei Haredim for a picture it ran last year of female leaders of Jewish movements meeting with President Isaac Herzog, in which the faces of the women were digitally smudged out.
The suit is filed on behalf of Anna Kislanski, CEO of the Reform Movement in Israel, IRAC Director Orly Erez-Likhovski, Rakefet Ginsburg, who leads the Conservative Movement in Israel, Yochi Rappeport, executive director of Women of the Wall, and WoW deputy leader, Tammy Gottlieb.
“B’hadrei Haredim must pay a significant price for this illegal exclusion, compensating my colleagues for the humiliation caused,” IRAC Executive Director Anat Hoffman says in a statement.
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Haaretz
January 5, 2022The women’s legal battle was conducted with the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the legal and advocacy arm of the Reform movement, and the women won legal decisions at all court levels, including at the Supreme Court.
Last July, the Supreme Court ruled that the continued existence of the signs “reflected a sorrowful chronicle of continued harm to women by criminal offenders” and instructed Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit and law enforcement agencies to try to formulate an agreed-upon solution to the issue.
2022
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The Jerusalem Post
December 9, 2021The municipality this week will start recruiting workers to stop the defacement of female figures on billboards, and will, for the first time, formulate together with the police an orderly plan to combat the phenomenon. They have three months to find the appropriate personnel, and a budget for placing security cameras near the billboards will also be approved soon. These steps come in the wake of an administrative petition filed in July by the Israel Religious Action Center claiming that the municipality did not enforce the regulations it set in place to stop this type of vandalism.
The center filed the petition after a picture of Holocaust survivor Penny Parnes was defaced in an exhibition in Safra Square featuring photographs of Holocaust survivors. In recent years, ads that include pictures of women have been systematically vandalized, allegedly by zealots from the haredi sector.
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Haaretz
December 5, 2021The announcement comes in response to an administrative petition filed in July by the Israel Religious Action Center which claimed that the city had not enforced its own regulations against defacement of signs portraying women in public. The incident which triggered the petition was the defacement of a picture of Fanny Parnas in an exhibit of photographs of holocaust survivors in the city's Safra Square. However, this incident is not unusual.
And yet, at a hearing held on Sunday, the city’s attorney admitted that they are hard-pressed to apprehend the sign defacers. “It is difficult to catch the perpetrators in the act. Other than installing cameras and filing complaints with the police, there’s not much to be done,” she said. “It is unacceptable for the city to say “there’s nothing I can do,” responded attorneys Orly Erez-Lahovsky and Uri Narov, who filed the petition.
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The Times of Israel
October 2, 2021The Israel Religious Action Center, which is connected to the liberal Reform movement of Judaism, has tracked the vandalism and other attacks on women’s images for five years and filed a court petition to compel the city of Jerusalem to crack down.
By refusing or being unable to crack down, “the state sponsors this practice,” said Ori Narov, an attorney for IRAC. “We keep getting this impression that they keep making excuses,” ranging from a shortage of labor to even more limits due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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AP
October 21, 2021The Israel Religious Action Center, which is connected to the liberal Reform movement of Judaism, has tracked the vandalism and other attacks on women’s images for five years and filed a court petition to compel the city of Jerusalem to crack down.
By refusing or being unable to crack down, “the state sponsors this practice,” said Ori Narov, an attorney for IRAC. “We keep getting this impression that they keep making excuses,” ranging from a shortage of labor to even more limits due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Haaretz
July 13, 2021In the wake of a legal petition by the Israel Religious Action Center – the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel – accusing the city of “failing to take appropriate action against the vandalization of women’s images on signs and billboards on the streets of Jerusalem,” Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum told Haaretz that the municipality “has not done enough because it’s not high on the priority list and because they consider the people doing this as crazy extremists.”
The Israel Religious Action Center filed its petition on Sunday following the repeated vandalism of a photograph of a female Holocaust survivor exhibited at Safra Square, outside the municipality building.
"The desecration of Peggy’s photo is not a unique incident," the group said in a statement. "There is a widespread trend of vandalizing women’s images in the public domain in Jerusalem."
"Women’s faces are scratched out, torn, or painted over throughout the streets of the city," it added. "This is humiliating and insulting to the women featured in the vandalized photos and sends the message that there is no room for women in the public domain."
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The Jerusalem Post
July 12, 2021Following the failure to take appropriate action against the vandalism of women's images on signs and billboards around Jerusalem, the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) has filed a petition in the Jerusalem District Court against the Municipality of Jerusalem.
The petition was filed in response to the repeated vandalism of a photo of Holocaust survivor Peggy Parnes, which is displayed in Safra Square, home to Jerusalem's municipal offices, as part of a larger photo exhibition.
According to IRAC, which has been tracking these incidents for five years and has written multiple letters of complaint to the municipality, this issue has persistently been ignored.
The letters call on the municipality to preserve a respectful public domain in the city, and to remember the municipal bylaw which prohibits the vandalism of signs.
Speaking about the decision to pursue legal action against the municipality, IRAC executive director Anat Hoffman said that "the vandalism of a photo honoring Holocaust survivor Peggy Parnes is heartbreaking and infuriating. Desecrating images of women is the most aggressive way of excluding women from the public domain, and is clearly not in line with Judaism."
IRAC work to advance equality in Israel and has fought multiple legal battles in the years since it was founded in 1987. It has been involved in leading the fight against gender discrimination over the years, and was responsible for the High Court case in 2011 which ruled that gender segregation on public transportation was illegal, as well as the ruling which forced the Beit Shemesh municipality to remove their "modesty signs" from the streets in 2019.
"We are saddened that we must remind the Municipality of Jerusalem time and time again, year after year, of their basic obligation to uphold the law prohibiting the vandalism of signs with images of women, to the point that we were forced to file a legal petition on the matter," Hoffman said.
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Haaretz
July 4, 2021In 2013, the Israel Religious Action Center, the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel, filed a suit against the municipality and the mayor on behalf of four Modern Orthodox women, all residents of Beit Shemesh, for refusing to remove the signs, as required by a government report published that year. Some of the signs instruct women how to dress, requiring them to wear long sleeves and long skirts and no tight-fitting clothing. Others admonish women to keep off the sidewalks near synagogues and yeshivas, where men tend to congregate.
2021
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Haaretz
December 4, 2020“HMOs must recognize the radical message that women are people, too, and deserve visual representation – including at branches in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods,” said attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski of the Israel Religious Action Center, which filed the complaints.
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Inside Edition
September 1, 2020Now, Wolfson is suing the airline for violation of Israeli law, which prohibits discrimination against customers based on race, religion, nationality, land of origin, gender, sexual orientation, political views, or personal status. She is claiming compensation of 66,438 shekels (equivalent to $19,811.54 in American currency) in the lawsuit. The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) that is representing Wolfson won a similar case in 2017 against El Al Israeli Airlines.
Wolfson is not alone in her fight against the airlines on this topic. Ultra-Orthodox men who refuse to take their seats next to women, demanding changes in seating and sometimes causing delays, has become an growing problem for airlines flying in and out of Israel.
Three years ago, Renee Rabinowitz, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, won a landmark ruling against El Al Airlines, for gender discrimination.
The Israeli judge hearing the case said that “under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesn’t want to sit next to them due to their gender," the Guardian reported.
At the time, IRAC said there have been close to 7,500 emails sent to El Al airlines by members of the public objecting to requests made to female passengers to change seats.
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Stuff
September 1, 2020In her suit, brought by the Israel Religious Action Centre, Wolfson told The Independent: “It’s not legal under Israeli or UK law to discriminate against anyone in a public space according to their gender, so in this case EasyJet broke the law.”
In another interview with Israeli news agency Haaretz, Wolfson said: "I would not have had any problem whatsoever switching seats if it were to allow members of a family or friends to sit together, but the fact that I was being asked to do this because I was a woman was why I refused.”
Israel Religious Action Centre director, Rabbi Noa Sattath, said the airline was “putting unjust pressure on the passenger to move”.
“EasyJet enabled a growing and worrying trend in Israel of segregating women in the public sphere. While some members of the ultra-Orthodox community misuse Judaism to justify discrimination, we are persistent in supporting women like Melanie who are standing up for their rights,” reports The Independent.
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The Courier Mail
August 31, 2020Ms Wolfson enlisted the support of the Israel Religious Action Centre to support her lawsuit, who argue that both incidents enable “a growing and worrying trend in Israel of segregating women in the public sphere”.
“While some members of the ultra-Orthodox community misuse Judaism to justify discrimination, we are persistent in supporting women like Melanie who are standing up for their rights,” centre director Rabbi Noa Sattath said.
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The Times
August 31, 2021 -
The Guardian
August 29, 2020Melanie Wolfson, 38, who was born in Britain but now lives in Tel Aviv, is seeking 66,438 shekels (almost £15,000) in a suit filed by a reformist group, the Israel Religious Action Centre.
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The Sun
August 28, 2020Now Melanie is claiming claiming 66,438 shekels compensation from the airline in a lawsuit filed on her behalf by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC).
Lawyers will say although easyJet is a British airline, they were subject to Israeli law while grounded at the Tel Aviv airport - which prohibits discrimination against customers on the basis of race, religion, nationality, land of origin, gender, sexual orientation, political views or personal status.
Back in 2017, the IRAC won a landmark case against Israeli El Al airlines after Renee Rabinowitz was pressured to move seats when two Orthodox men refused to sit next to her.
Ms Rabinowitz, a Holocaust survivor and lawyer in her eighties won 6,500 shekels (just under £1,500) in compensation.
The judge said: "Under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesn't want to sit next to them due to their gender."
At the time, the IRAC said almost 7,500 emails of complaint had been made to El Al regarding Orthodox men requesting women move seats.
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The Daily Mail
August 28, 2020Melanie Wolfson, 38, is claiming 66,438 shekels compensation from the low-cost airline in a lawsuit filed on her behalf by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC).
Ms Wolfson, a professional fundraiser from Tel Aviv, is also asking that easyJet bans its cabin crew from asking women to switch seats because of their gender.
In 2017, IRAC won a groundbreaking case against El Al for Renee Rabinowitz, a Holocaust survivor and lawyer in her eighties who was pressured by flight attendants to move seats because of an ultra-Orthodox man who refused to sit next to her.
Ms Rabinowitz, 82, won 6,500 shekels in compensation from El Al. The Israeli judge hearing the case said that 'under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesn't want to sit next to them due to their gender'.
At the time, IRAC said almost 7,500 emails had been sent to El Al by members of the public objecting to requests made to female passengers to change seats.
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The Mirror
August 26, 2020Ms Wolfson is reportedly being supported in her suit by the Israel Religious Action Center IRC) – the advocacy arm of the Jewish reform movement which challenges issues like gender segregation.
Although easyJet is not based in Israel, IRAC will argue that the first incident was subject to Israeli law while the plane was on the ground at Ben-Gurion International Airport, where the first incident took place.
In 2017, IRAC won a ground-breaking case against another Israeli airline El Al, involving a similar situation to Ms Wolfson's.
Holocaust survivor and lawyer Renee Rabinowitz won compensation from the airline after she was pressured by flight attendants to move seats when an ultra-Orthodox man refused to sit next to her.
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The Jerusalem Post
August 26, 2020The lawsuit was filed last week on behalf of Tel Aviv resident Melanie Wolfson, 38, by the Israel Religious Action Center, a division of the Reform movement in Israel, Haaretz first reported.
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Paddle Your Own Kanoo
August 25, 2020Melanie Wolfson is being supported by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) which previously helped an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor successfully sue Israeli flag carrier El Al after a similar incident in 2015. Wolfson, 38, is demanding US$19,515 in compensation from easyJet and wants the airline to change crew guidelines in order to protect the rights of female passengers.
In 2017, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor and a former lawyer, Renee Rabinowitz won a landmark case against El Al in which the judge ruled that “under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesn’t want to sit next to them due to their gender”.
The incident occurred in 2015 on a fight from Newark to Tel Aviv and Rabinowitz didn’t take any action until she had a chance encounter with an executive from the IRAC. El Al has since told flight attendants to offload ultra-Orthodox passengers who refuse to sit next to someone because of their gender.
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Haaretz
August 24, 2020Melanie Wolfson, who moved to Israel 13 years ago and lives in Tel Aviv, is demanding 66,438 shekels ($19,515) in compensation from the airline, according to a suit filed last week on her behalf by the Israel Religious Action Center – the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel.
EasyJet is being sued for violating an Israeli law enacted in 2000, which prohibits discrimination against customers on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, land of origin, gender, sexual orientation, political views or personal status. Although the airline is not based in Israel, IRAC will argue that it was subject to Israeli law while the plane was on the ground at Ben-Gurion International Airport, where the incident took place.
In 2017, IRAC won a groundbreaking case against El Al involving a similar situation. In that case, the organization represented Renee Rabinowitz, a Holocaust survivor and lawyer in her eighties who was pressured by flight attendants to move seats because of an ultra-Orthodox man wo refused to sit next to her. Rabinowitz won 6,500 shekels in compensation from El Al. The court also ruled that the Israeli airline could no longer demand seat changes based on gender and that it must publish the new rules and incorporate them into staff training sessions.
Commenting on the latest case, Rabbi Noa Sattath, the director of IRAC, said: “The attempt to move a woman from a seat she reserved because of chauvinistic ideas, which have absolutely no connection to Judaism, is immoral, illegal and illegitimate. A direct line connects the attempt to erase women by refusing to sit next to them and the tacit consent that is given to hurt them and their bodies. We, in the Reform movement, through IRAC, will do whatever needs to be done to promote gender equality in Israel.”
Representing Wolfson in the case is Meital Arbel, from IRAC’s legal department.
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Simple Flying
August 25, 2020Melanie Wolfson has sued the London-based airline on the grounds of discrimination. She sought the expertise of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) to handle the case.
According to Haaretz, Meital Arbel from IRAC is representing the 38-year-old. Wolfson is also pushing for $19,537 (66,438 shekels) in compensation from easyJet.
After submitting multiple complaints, she reportedly did not hear back from the airline. As such, Wolfson moved to the next step and filed for a lawsuit together with the IRAC.
EasyJet is being sued for violating Israeli’s anti-discrimination law. The law prohibits discriminating customers based on race, religion, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, or political views. The IRAC believes the airline should have adhered to the law as the incident occurred on Israeli land.
The Irish Times reported that the IRAC won Rabinowitz's case, which meant that El Al flight attendants could no longer ask women to move seats to accommodate ultra-Orthodox men.
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Cleveland Jewish News
February 26, 2020A train is a public space and not a synagogue, and Melitz has a right to sit anywhere she wants. So with the help of the Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform and Progressive movement, and the Israel Women’s Network, Melitz is suing Israel Railways for gender discrimination and $20,000 in compensation.
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Australia Jewish News
February 16, 2020The Israel Religious Action Centre and Israel Women’s Network are bringing the suit, which seeks £15,300 ($20,000) in damages, on behalf of Melitz. The plaintiffs also want Israel Railways to publish guidelines that prohibit asking women to move because of their gender.
“It is not acceptable that a railway employee demand that a woman moves to a different railcar because the fact that she is a woman disrupts prayer in that railcar,” Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Centre, said in a statement. “It is hard to believe that in 2020 women still need to fight for the right to be present in the public domain.”
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Cleveland Jewish News
February 14, 2020The Israel Religious Action Center and Israel Women’s Network are bringing the suit, which seeks $20,000 in damages, on behalf of Melitz. The plaintiffs also want Israel Railways to publish guidelines that prohibit asking women to move because of their gender.
“It is not acceptable that a railway employee demand that a woman moves to a different railcar because the fact that she is a woman disrupts prayer in that railcar,” Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, said in a statement. “It is hard to believe that in 2020 women still need to fight for the right to be present in the public domain.”
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Arizona Jewish Post
February 14, 2020The Israel Religious Action Center and Israel Women’s Network are bringing the suit, which seeks $20,000 in damages, on behalf of Melitz. The plaintiffs also want Israel Railways to publish guidelines that prohibit asking women to move because of their gender.
“It is not acceptable that a railway employee demand that a woman moves to a different railcar because the fact that she is a woman disrupts prayer in that railcar,” Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, said in a statement. “It is hard to believe that in 2020 women still need to fight for the right to be present in the public domain.”
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The Times of Israel
February 14, 2020The Israel Religious Action Center and Israel Women’s Network are bringing the suit, which seeks $20,000 in damages, on behalf of Melitz. The plaintiffs also want Israel Railways to publish guidelines that prohibit asking women to move because of their gender.
“It is not acceptable that a railway employee demand that a woman moves to a different railcar because the fact that she is a woman disrupts prayer in that railcar,” Anat Hoffman, executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, said in a statement.
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The Jerusalem Post
February 13, 2020The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) and the Israel Women’s Network (IWN) have filed a lawsuit against Israel Railways, on behalf of Maya Melitz, a woman from Jerusalem, the organizations announced earlier this week.
The two groups decided to demand compensation from Israel Railways for NIS 66,969 (about $20,000), saying that the incident violated the Prohibition Against Discrimination Act.
"This was not the first incident where an Israel Railways employee asked a woman to change seats because of prayer, thus we requested that the court instruct Israel Railways to publish guidelines that will make it clear to employees that it is forbidden to ask women to change seats because of their gender, and to train them regarding the prohibition against gender exclusion," the statement said.
“It is not acceptable that a railway employee demand that a woman moves to a different rail car because the fact that she is a woman disrupts prayer in that rail car. It is hard to believe that in 2020, women still need to fight for the right to be present in the public domain," said Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of IRAC.
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Ynet News
February 12, 2020"It's absurd that a woman who just wants to ride the train is asked by an employee to move to a different carriage since her very existence is a disturbance to men's prayers," says Miri Nahmias, an attorney at the IMPJ legal advocacy arm, the Israel Religious Action Center.
"It's hard to believe that in 2020 we still need to fight for our right to be present in a public space."
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The Times of Israel
February 12, 2020Together with the Israel Women’s Network, the Israel Religious Action Center launched its suit on behalf of Maya Melitz, who they said was asked by an Israel Railways employee to vacate her seat because men were praying in the same train car.
“Maya didn’t understand why she needed to move and refused, emphasizing that the train is a public place and not an Orthodox synagogue,” the two organizations said in a statement.
Claiming that Israel Railways ignored their inquiries regarding compensation, the two groups then sued for NIS 66,969 ($19,584), IWN and IRAC said, describing the employee’s request as a violation of the Prohibition Against Discrimination Act.
IWN and IRAC stated that because this was not the first such incident, Israel Railways must publish written guidelines informing employees that such behavior is illegal.
“It is unacceptable that a railway employee demand that a woman move to a different rail car because the fact that she is a woman disrupts prayer in that rail car. It is hard to believe that in 2020 women still need to fight for the right to be present in the public domain,” said IRAC executive director Anat Hoffman.
“It is absurd that we need to sue Israel Railways because their employees do not yet understand that the exclusion of women is against the law. For this reason, our lawsuit not only demands compensation for Maya Melitz, but also that Israel Railways train their employees about their obligation to conduct themselves in the same manner toward all passengers and to not discriminate against or exclude women.”
2020
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The Jerusalem Post
November 2, 2019A cable car station Manara Cliff, a hiking spot in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, paid damages after a video revealed that the operator did not let two women onto a car that was filled with haredi men, according to the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC).
"So there is room for a number of people, but you won't let them on because they are women, right?" the tour guide, Jamie Selter, asked the operator in a video clip released by IRAC.
"There are people there, but they have a problem getting on with girls because they are religious, they won't get on with girls," said the operator in response.
The tour guide, in response, spoke with IRAC, which in turn assigned him one of their attorneys, Meital Arbel, who filed a petition on his behalf in November of 2018 against Manara Cliff.
An agreement was reached almost one year later, in October of this year, that requires Manara Cliff to "provide equal and respectful service to all visitors, without descrimination," according to a press release by IRAC.
In addition, Manara Cliff will be paying the tour guide NIS 10,000 in damages.
"It’s about time that business owners understand that exclusion of women is illegal and is not worth it," said IRAC Executive Director Anat Hoffman. "With the help of people like Jamie, [the tour guide,] who witnessed discrimination and refused to allow it become the norm, we will continue to fight to preserve equality in the public domain.”
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Haaretz
July 10, 2019The Transportation Ministry’s National Public Transport Authority said that, after the Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform Judaism movement filed a complaint on the matter, the incident would be investigated and the driver and the bus company summoned. Egged said it has launched its own investigation and would not tolerate discrimination. It added that the driver, whose services were contracted from a subcontractor, disputes Bar-On's account.
In the Israel Religious Action Center’s complaint, its lawyer Meital Arbel asserted that the driver’s actions were discriminatory and a clear violation of the law and legal precedent. Among other things, she cited a ruling by the High Court of Justice which she said deemed such discrimination a “breach of equality and dignity,” ruling that “no restrictions should be compelled regarding separation on public transportation even if the [bus] lines serve the ultra-Orthodox.”
She also stated that the High Court had ruled that “it is the bus company’s responsibility to ensure that the rights of the passengers are maintained, and that any female passenger may board from any door and sit in any vacant seat.” The driver’s actions, Arbel wrote, not only did not protect Bar-On’s right to board the bus and sit where she chose, but actually prevented her from boarding.
Bar-On and the IRAC lawyer are demanding 50,000 shekels (about $14,000) in compensation from Egged, that disciplinary action be taken against the driver who allegedly refused to allow women on the bus, and that Egged immediately issue a reminder to drivers not to discriminate. They are also demanding greater monitoring of the conduct of drivers on the No. 402 bus and other lines.
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Religious News Service
March 8, 2019The Israel Religious Action Center, which filed the suit, has already won gender-discrimination suits against a national bus company and a radio station.
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The Independent
February 28, 2019According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the case against the world’s largest furniture retailer was filed by Hannah Katsman, a modern Orthodox woman from the central Israeli town of Petah Tikva, and the Israel Religious Action Center, which is the advocacy wing of the Reform movement in the country.
2019
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The Times of Israel
December 2, 2018Earlier this year, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, The Israel Religious Action Center and The Israel Women’s Network issued a statement on two High Court petitions for gender segregation in academia, saying that “gender segregation for religious reasons violates the fundamental right of women to equality in Israel and contradicts the basic assumptions of a democratic regime.”
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JTA
September 23, 2018The class action lawsuit was filed against the radio station, based in Bnei Brak, six years ago by the Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement and by Kolech, the Religious Women’s Forum.
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The Jerusalem Post
September 22, 2018Kol Barama broadcasted for two years without a single woman's voice. In 2012, the Israeli Religious Action Center (IRAC) and Asaf Pink filed a class action lawsuit against the station on behalf of Kolech, the Religious Women's Forum, for exclusion of women.
The station will pay 1 million NIS in damages, not including legal fees, which will be transferred to a class action fund that intends to distribute the money to programs that empower religious women.
"This ruling is an important cornerstone in the battle against discrimination and the exclusion of women," said Anat Hoffman, IRAC Executive Director. "Those who discriminate must pay the price. With the start of the Jewish New Year, we will continue to work for social equality, tolerance and justice against discrimination and exclusion.”
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The Daily Mail
September 21, 2018A class action lawsuit was filed in 2012 by the Orthodox feminist association Kolech and the Israel Religious Action Center, the Times of Israel said.
The complainants accused the radio station of failing to bring a single female voice to air during its first two years of operation, between 2009 and 2011.
The court ordered Kol Barama to donate its fine to initiatives bolstering women's place in society, IRAC said in a statement.
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The Times of Israel
September 20, 2018The ruling comes six years after the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center and the religious women’s rights group Kolech filed a class action lawsuit against the radio station for its refusal to broadcast women on any of its programming.
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Haaretz
July 8, 2018The ad agency, known by its Hebrew acronym Lapam, informed the Israel Religious Action Center of the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel of its new policy, after the center complained a year ago about the agency cooperating in the exclusion of women in the media.
In August 2017, IRAC sent a complaint to Shlomo Adiel, the acting director general of Lapam at the time. The complaint called this policy “self-censorship that discriminates against female [radio] announcers and hosts who are not allowed to participate in these ads.” IRAC also said that the policies of Lapam discriminate against listeners who are prevented from hearing women’s voices.
IRAC responded saying if the Ultra-Orthodox media refuses to broadcast ads with women, Lapam must stop working with them. It is unknown how much of their ad budget went to these radio stations.
Last week, Stambler formulated a completely new policy: “Lapam and the Justice Ministry agree that the exclusion of women in public spaces is an unacceptable and serious phenomenon. A a situation in which women are excluded from government advertising intended for the Ultra-Orthodoxi community must be avoided,” wrote Stambler to IRAC in his letter.
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The Times of Israel
June 29, 2018Last year, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that El Al cannot force women to change seats at the request of ultra-Orthodox men. The court agreed with Israel Religious Action Center, which brought the suit, in ruling the practice was illegal and discriminatory.
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The Times of Israel
June 28, 2018Last year, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that El Al cannot force women to change seats at the request of ultra-Orthodox men. The court agreed with Israel Religious Action Center, which brought the suit, in ruling the practice was illegal and discriminatory.
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The Huffington Post
June 27, 2018Last year, a Holocaust survivor took El Al to court over the issue ― and won. Renee Rabinowitz claimed she was asked to change seats for an ultra-Orthodox man on an El Al flight in December 2015. A Jerusalem court ruled last June that El Al can’t ask women to change seats because of their gender. The judge gave the company six months to provide staff with training on how to deal with such situations in the future.
Rabinowitz was represented by the Israel Religious Action Center, the public advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel. Anat Hoffman, the center’s executive director, told HuffPost that the airline still has work to do to live up to the judge’s orders. She said she applauds Usishkinm’s statement but wishes it had come sooner.
“We only regret that such a strong statement was not issued when the first reports of these stories began surfacing years ago, nor after last year’s court ruling in the Renee Rabinowitz case,” Hoffman wrote in an email. “El Al now has to demonstrate that these are not just words, but a real change in policy.”
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Ynet News
June 27, 2018“Any woman who can show that a flight attendant either in gesture or in word encouraged her to move from her seat can sue El Al (or other Israel-bound airlines) and receive NIS 65,200,” Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), told The Media Line. She noted, however, that lawsuits would not apply in cases where the flight attendant is not involved.
“Only very few of these cases are when the flight attendant actually participates,” Hoffman said, adding that usually the flight crew “turns a blind eye” to such incidences and the woman moves following pressure from other passengers.
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The Media Line
June 27, 2018 -
Haaretz
June 26, 2018Two years later, a lawsuit filed by the Israel Religious Action Center on behalf of Renee Rabinowitz – a Holocaust survivor and grandmother who was asked to move to a different seat on a 2015 El Al flight – resulted in a legal ruling against El Al.
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NBC News
June 26, 2018The Israel Religious Action Center, a progressive group that led last year's case, was also unavailable for comment but asked passengers to report any similar cases. “If you have witnessed or experienced illegal gender segregation, please report the incident to us, and we will take action,” it said on Facebook.
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Haaretz
June 25, 2018Israel Religious Action Center legal director Orly Erez-Likhovski, who has argued several key gender-segregation cases, called the Tel Aviv ruling a “setback” that failed to recognize that gender separation is as unacceptable as racial separation.
“The fact that we still have to explain that a gender-segregated public event with a mechitza (divider) in the center of a city – whether Tel Aviv or Jerusalem – violates principles of basic democracy is very frustrating,” she told Haaretz.
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news.com.au
June 25, 2018The Israel Religious Action Center, a progressive group that led last year’s lawsuit, accused the airline of breaking its commitments.
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The Seattle Times
June 24, 2018The Israel Religious Action Center, a progressive group that led last year’s lawsuit, accused the airline of breaking its commitments.
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The Times of Israel
June 23, 2018Last year, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that El Al cannot force women to change seats at the request of ultra-Orthodox men. The court agreed with Israel Religious Action Center, which brought the suit, in ruling the practice was illegal and discriminatory.
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Haaretz
January 2, 2018When they arrived at their destination, the Knesset members were joined by several local women, all Modern Orthodox, who have been spearheading the campaign against the modesty signs. The women were introduced by representatives of the Israel Religious Action Center – the local advocacy arm of the Reform movement, which has been fighting their battle in court for the past five years.
So when IRAC reached out to the group and offered to help with their legal battles, Philipp and her friends were genuinely moved, but also a bit hesitant. After all, in certain parts of the Orthodox world, Reform Judaism is not considered a legitimate movement and such cooperation might reflect badly on them.
The collaboration between the Beit Shemesh women and the Reform movement has proven fruitful – at least on paper. IRAC’s legal department has won every single case it brought to court against the modesty signs.
Sometimes, as in the Beit Shemesh case, these collaborations are above board. Often, though, they are not. For example, IRAC petitioned the High Court in 2007, demanding an end to gender segregation on bus lines that run through ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) communities. That followed complaints from women who had been forced to sit at the back of the bus and enter through the back door. The High Court ruled in 2011 that gender segregation on buses was illegal without the consent of the passengers.
Not only were women’s rights groups cheering the victory. As Orly Erez-Likhovski, the head of IRAC’s legal department, recalls, she received some unexpected phone calls at the time. “Of course, it was all very hush-hush,” she says, “but there were quite a few Haredim who reached out to say they were thankful for the Reform movement because we’re the only ones out there fighting their battles.”
In a related case, IRAC is representing Kolech in a class-action suit against an ultra-Orthodox radio station, Kol Barama, which refuses to put women on the air. A ruling has yet to be handed down.
According to Erez-Likhovski, a combination of factors can explain why such alliances, which transcend the usual denominational divides, have become more common in recent years.
“Within Orthodoxy, there is far more focus today on women’s rights, especially among certain more progressive streams,” she says. “At the same time, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate has become more and more rigid, forcing many people into a corner.”
Another recent example of the IRAC going to bat for Orthodox individuals and groups involves kashrut regulations. In 2014, it petitioned the High Court on behalf of two Jerusalem restaurant owners to fight the Rabbinate’s monopoly in awarding kashrut certificates. IRAC lost the case, but when the High Court handed down its ruling last September, it said restaurateurs are allowed to tell their clients they serve kosher food even if they don’t have kashrut certification from the Rabbinate.
2018
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Haaretz
December 25, 2017Philipp and her fellow activists joined the Knesset members on their trip through the city. The Knesset delegation included only representatives of the opposition parties, among them only one man. The trip was initiated by the Israel Religious Action Center, the local advocacy arm of the Reform movement, which has been representing Philipp and her cohorts in court.
IRAC first filed suit against the city of Beit Shemesh and its mayor four years ago, demanding that they remove the modesty signs.
In June 2016, the Jerusalem District Court gave Abutbul three weeks to remove the illegal signs and to act more vigilantly against offenders. After the mayor did not comply with that ruling either, this past June, the Jerusalem District Court responded to a request submitted by IRAC and declared him in contempt of court. It ordered the city to pay 10,000 shekels ($2,860) a day in fines until all the signs were removed.
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Ynet News
December 16, 2017The two women lodged a complaint with Beit Shemesh police Friday. An attorney for the Israel Religious Action Center who represented the women in legal proceedings was also threatened.
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The Jewish Chronicle
December 8, 2017“The explicit instruction to remove all signs sends a clear message that the rights of the women of Bet Shemesh will not be forfeited,” said Orly Erez Likhovski, head of the legal department at the Israel Religious Action Center and representative of the women of Bet Shemesh, who led the challenge against the signs.
“We, who stand at forefront of the war against the exclusion of women in Israel, see this decision instructing the removal of all modesty signs as a major victory of the rule of law over the rule of violence, and towards the rights of women to dignity and equality.
“We will continue to monitor and fight all occurrences of the exclusion of women in Israel.”
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The Jerusalem Post
December 5, 2017The Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform Movement, which has represented the non-Haredi petitioners against the signs, welcomed the ruling, saying that the state could not reconcile itself with a situation in which the rights of women in Beit Shemesh – or anywhere else in the country – are so badly violated.
“We, who stand at the forefront of the war against discrimination against women in Israel, see this ruling as a great victory for the rule of law over the regime of violence, and for the rights of women and equality,” IRAC attorney Orly Erez Lahovsky said.
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Haaretz
December 4, 2017In 2013, the Israel Religious Action Center, the advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel, filed a suit against the municipality and the mayor on behalf of four Modern Orthodox women, all residents of Beit Shemesh, for refusing to remove the signs, as required by a government report published that year.
In June 2016, the Jerusalem District Court gave Abutbul three weeks to remove the illegal signs and to act more vigilantly against offenders. After the mayor did not comply with that ruling either, this past June, the Jerusalem District Court responded to a request submitted by IRAC and declared him in contempt of court. It ordered the city to pay 10,000 shekels ($2,860) a day in fines until all the signs were removed.
“We who stand at the forefront of the war against exclusion of women in Israel see in this decision to remove all the modesty signs a major victory for the rule of law and for the rights of women to respect and equality,” said attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski, head of IRAC's legal department . “We will continue to monitor and fight against all attempts to exclude women in Israeli society.”
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The Forward
December 4, 2017 -
Haaretz
November 17, 2017Sex-segregated funeral halls violate both the attorney general’s report and Religious Services Ministry regulations. So Dror and Nitzan filed suit, represented by the Israel Religious Action Center, and won an out-of-court settlement. In April 2017, the Atlit religious council demolished the wall. It also agreed to pay the plaintiffs 5,000 shekels ($1,400) in compensation and post signs saying sex segregation during funerals is prohibited unless explicitly requested by the family.
But legal action doesn’t always work so quickly. In August, Orly Erez-Likhovski, a lawyer, complained to the government advertising agency about the lack of female voices in PSAs broadcast on Haredi radio stations. She did not receive a response, which was issued only after Haaretz contacted the agency.
The agency said it cannot force a radio station to air a PSA if the station refuses. But Erez-Likhovski says that because the Supreme Court has ruled that Haredi stations cannot exclude women, the agency is breaking the law.
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The Independent
June 23, 2017The test case decided by magistrates involved Renee Rabinowitz, an octogenarian who was asked by cabin crew to move after an Orthodox Jew refused to sit next to her. She complied with the request, but later began legal action with the Israel Religious Action Center.
The association has campaigned against gender segregation for a decade, asking female volunteers to ride on segregated bus lines to record discrimination from other passengers or the driver.
“In many cases, women or the men who accompanied them were verbally abused, threatened, or even denied entrance to the bus,” says the organisation.
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NBC News
June 22, 2017"This is revolutionary," Rabinowitz's lawyer Anat Hoffman said in a statement after Judge Dana Cohen-Lekach handed down the decision on Wednesday.
"As it would be unthinkable to move an Arab passenger at the request of a Jewish passenger, a female passenger cannot be moved at the request of a Haredi passenger," added Hoffman, referring to a member of an ultra-Orthodox sect of Judaism.
Hoffman is the executive director of advocacy group Israel Religious Action Center.
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NPR
June 22, 2017Rabinowitz was represented by the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal and advocacy arm of the Israel Reform movement. The group says requests for seat changes to accommodate men who don't want to sit next to women have become common.
"It's difficult to find someone who has flown New York to Tel Aviv who hasn't seen it or been a part of it," IRAC Deputy Director Steven Beck told NPR. "Particularly around the holidays, a lot of ultra-Orthodox are taking flights" and the men "would not sit down."
Some deeply religious Jews believe any contact between the sexes is immodest. That has caused delays and even chaos on numerous flights in recent years when men refused to take seats next to women.
Beck says the phenomenon isn't limited to flights on the Israeli airline: "It's just [that] the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews on El Al is greater, and the effort to accommodate them is greater."
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The New York Times
June 21, 2017 -
The Jerusalem Post
June 7, 2017“It must be hoped that the Beit Shemesh Municipality will finally understand that the time has come to put the rights of the women of the city at the top of its priorities and not at the bottom,” said attorney Orly Erez-Likhovski, a lawyer for the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal arm of the Reform movement in Israel, who represented the plaintiffs in the case.