Israeli airline told not to move women on flights to please Orthodox Jewish men
Judge Dana Cohen-Lekah told the airline to ensure its cabin crew know the correct procedures
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Your support makes all the difference.Israel’s national airline, El Al, has been told by a court in Jerusalem that it must not ask women to move in order to spare a man from having to sit next to her.
In a case brought by the progressive Israeli Religious Action Centre, Judge Dana Cohen-Lekah 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”.
Some strictly Orthodox Jewish men, known as Haredi, say that the modesty laws of their religion forbids them from sitting beside any woman who is not their wife.
In Haredi communities in the US and Israel, some buses and beaches have been gender-separated. Demands for seats to be reassigned have led to delays on El Al and other airlines flying to and from Israel.
The 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.
The law granting equality for women was passed in Israel in 1951. Its central premise is “Women and men shall be equal for purposes of every legal act,” and it stipulates: “Every woman and every man has an equal right to live in human dignity, and that includes equality in the spheres of work, education, studies, health, housing, quality of the environment and social welfare.”
Judge Cohen-Lekah told the airline to ensure its cabin crew know the correct procedures.
In 2009 it was reported that El Al was negotiating with Haredi groups to operate segregated flights for the Passover festival, with male and female passengers separated and only male cabin crew serving men.
The airline does not fly on the Jewish Sabbath, which creates complex scheduling challenges. The policy is listed by El Al as a negative factor "affecting or liable to affect the Company's competitive position".
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