Hundreds of Israeli Women Demonstrate against Discrimination in Public Transports

Hundreds of Israeli women demonstrated on Thursday, in Bnei Brak, the eastern suburb of Tel Aviv. (Reuters)
Hundreds of Israeli women demonstrated on Thursday, in Bnei Brak, the eastern suburb of Tel Aviv. (Reuters)
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Hundreds of Israeli Women Demonstrate against Discrimination in Public Transports

Hundreds of Israeli women demonstrated on Thursday, in Bnei Brak, the eastern suburb of Tel Aviv. (Reuters)
Hundreds of Israeli women demonstrated on Thursday, in Bnei Brak, the eastern suburb of Tel Aviv. (Reuters)

Hundreds of Israeli women demonstrated on Thursday, in Bnei Brak, the eastern suburb of Tel Aviv - which is inhabited by ultra-Orthodox Jews - to protest against what they consider gender discrimination against them, especially in public transportation, where such incidents have recently increased.

The women responded to the call to demonstrate in Bnei Brak, after media outlets published reports that several bus drivers in this ultra-religious suburb had, in recent weeks, forced women to sit in the back seats, or even prevented women from boarding their buses.

These incidents angered the residents, who took to the streets in protest. The demonstrators chanted slogans, including: “No democracy without equality,” while many waved Israeli flags and carried banners that read: “We are equal.”

“We can sit wherever we want, and we can wear whatever we want,” said a protester.

Since the end of the 1980s, Israel has been witnessing gender segregation on bus lines, in which the ultra-Orthodox make up the majority of passengers. The most radical among the religious Jews adopt a strict segregation of the sexes. Activists assert that discrimination against women has increased in this society.

“Just because some religious groups and extremist groups believe that women are the source of all evil, it does not mean that we have to accept it... I want my 10-year-old daughter to grow up in a world where she has all the opportunities,” a lawyer said ahead of the rally.



S.Korea Holds Missile Drill after N.Korea Launches

An undated handout photo made available by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff shows a Hyunmoo-II surface-to-surface missile being launched during a live-fire drill at an undisclosed location in South Korea (issued 08 November 2024). EPA/ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff / HANDOUT
An undated handout photo made available by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff shows a Hyunmoo-II surface-to-surface missile being launched during a live-fire drill at an undisclosed location in South Korea (issued 08 November 2024). EPA/ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff / HANDOUT
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S.Korea Holds Missile Drill after N.Korea Launches

An undated handout photo made available by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff shows a Hyunmoo-II surface-to-surface missile being launched during a live-fire drill at an undisclosed location in South Korea (issued 08 November 2024). EPA/ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff / HANDOUT
An undated handout photo made available by the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff shows a Hyunmoo-II surface-to-surface missile being launched during a live-fire drill at an undisclosed location in South Korea (issued 08 November 2024). EPA/ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff / HANDOUT

South Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea in a show of force after North Korea's recent salvo of missile launches, Seoul said Friday.

The nuclear-armed North had test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as well as a number of short-range ballistic missiles in separate drills over the last two weeks.

South Korea's military command said its live-fire exercise was aimed at demonstrating its "strong resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocation.”

It also underlined its "capability and readiness for precision strikes against the enemy's origin of provocation," the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.

A Hyunmoo surface-to-surface short-range missile was sent into the West Sea in the exercise, the military command said.

South Korea started domestic production of short-range ballistic missiles in the 1970s to counter the threats posed by North Korea.

Hyunmoo are a series of missiles which are key to the country's so-called 'Kill Chain' preemptive strike system, which allows Seoul to launch a preemptive attack if there are signs of imminent North Korean attack.

In early October, the country displayed for the first time its largest ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is capable of destroying underground bunkers.

Last Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the North's ICBM launch.

Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.

Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country's leader and a key spokesperson, called the US-South Korea-Japan exercises an "action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy toward our Republic.”

The drill was an "absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces we have opted for and put into practice," she added.