The Rishon L’Tzion Municipality decided to examine a pilot of allocating separate hours for religious residents in libraries. However, following a lawsuit filed by one of the city’s residents, the court ruled that the policy was discriminatory and illegal, and prohibiting the separate hours, Ynet reported.

The story began when the religious residents of the city of Rishon L’Tzion approached the municipality with a request to establish torani libraries suitable for the religious residents. The municipality decided to examine the need for such libraries, and as a pilot, the municipal libraries were opened in a customized format, with suitable books available on Wednesday afternoons, when the library is usually closed.

Lee Weizman, a secular resident of the city, asked in two cases to change the books in her possession – and when she arrived at the library on Wednesday afternoon, she was refused on the grounds that the hours were for a specific public. Weizmann argued with the library’s management and was eventually allowed to change her books.

Despite receiving permission, Weizmann turned to the municipality, and when the answers she received did not satisfy her, she sued the municipality for discrimination between the religious and secular communities. The municipality claimed that there was no discrimination, since the plaintiff received service in the end.

The court finally ruled that setting separate times for the religious public is indeed discriminatory and prohibited the municipality from creating special hours. The court’s ruling states that even if the final result is that a certain public will refrain from reaching the library, it is not enough to allow such separation, which creates discrimination on the part of the secular public.

The Municipality of Rishon L’Tzion said that it decided to hold the pilot during a time period that the library did not operate, but with the analysis of the findings it was decided not to continue the project: “The municipality provides a solution to the needs of all its residents. There were difficulties for the religious residents, so the city conducted a pilot on Wednesday afternoons, a time when the library was closed anyway, opening for three hours in nine of the city’s libraries to service the torani community. After analyzing the findings, it was decided not to continue with the program”, the statement read.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)