Women who won modesty court battle face harassment campaign

Published: 21 December 2017

Last updated: 4 March 2024

FIVE WOMEN WHO initiated a court case against ultra-Orthodox signs in Beit Shemesh that called for women to dress modestly and not walk on some parts of the streets are now facing threats and harassment after the signs began coming down last week.

On December 4, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the Beit Shemesh municipality to remove signs that demand women dress modestly. The court ruled the signs, which the justices say exclude women from the public sphere, must come down by December 18, and the municipality began removing them last week.

But the five women who initiated the court case are now receiving harassing phone calls after their personal details were published on flyers and posted around Beit Shemesh.

FULL STORY
Threatened with death curse, women fighting Beit Shemesh ‘modesty’ signs defiant (Times of Israel)

AND SEE:
Israeli Justice Minister asks: why not segregate libraries by sex? (Haaretz)
Ayelet Shaked said every local government should find a balance between making sure not to exclude women and preserving 'the freedom of a religious way of life'

Photo: The Beit Shemesh women involved in the court case, pictured in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on December 4 (Courtesy Nili Philipp)