The separate seating arrangement that was supposed to be in place for a Holon Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day event was canceled by Holon City Hall, following the involvement of the assistant district attorney, Dina Zilber. MK Betzalel Smotrich has come out harshly against the move, insisting separate seating should be an option at such events in the future.

“Here is yet another example why I am seeking the justice portfolio, to bring an end to ‘fundamentalist secular coercion’ and this madness of Dina Zilber, who arrogantly seeks to re-educate the religious public and prevents it from holding events in line with its religious beliefs.

“The truth is that this is the legal situation today,” Smotrich added. “Zilber’s hyperactive activism, as in many other cases, is manifestly illegal, and in the present situation, there is no alternative but to clarify it again in the law, and so with G-d’s help we will do it.”

The Prohibition on Discrimination in Products, Services and Entry to Places of Entertainment and Public Places Law prohibits, inter alia, discrimination on the grounds of sex, and gender segregation may be considered prohibited discrimination. The law includes a reservation according to which separation may be permitted “because of the nature of the service, the product or the place,” such as “for religious reasons of a group or for private reasons.”

However, the opinion of the Attorney General of June 2014 stated explicitly that the office’s staff prohibits any form of separation between men and women in public and state events, “except when it is an event of a strictly religious character, mainly religious or other significant religious ceremony, that the vast majority of the participants in the event are characterized by a desire to separate.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)