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.



Israeli Defense Minister Officially Steps Down

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant talks during the joint statements after his meeting with Greece's National Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos (not pictured) at the Defense Ministry in Athens, Greece, 4 Μay 2023. (EPA)
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant talks during the joint statements after his meeting with Greece's National Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos (not pictured) at the Defense Ministry in Athens, Greece, 4 Μay 2023. (EPA)
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Israeli Defense Minister Officially Steps Down

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant talks during the joint statements after his meeting with Greece's National Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos (not pictured) at the Defense Ministry in Athens, Greece, 4 Μay 2023. (EPA)
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant talks during the joint statements after his meeting with Greece's National Defense Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos (not pictured) at the Defense Ministry in Athens, Greece, 4 Μay 2023. (EPA)

Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant officially stepped down Friday in a ceremony that replaced him with Israel Katz, the former foreign minister, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Gallant earlier this week.

Israel has been rocked by Gallant’s dismissal, with the news setting off mass protests across the country. Many in Israel view Gallant as the sole moderate voice in a far-right government, and see his removal as a sign that the far-right government of Benjamin Netanyahu has lost interest in returning hostages still held in Gaza, The AP reported.

Israel Katz, his replacement, currently serves as foreign minister and is a longtime Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister.

Also Friday, the Israeli military body handling aid to Gaza, COGAT, said it is preparing to open a new aid crossing into Gaza as the deadline for a US deadline to increase desperately-needed aid into the war-ravaged territory approaches. But the body did not say when the crossing will open nor if aid will be delivered to north of Gaza, where the UN and aid groups say the humanitarian situation is most dire.

The United Nations humanitarian office says Israel's monthlong offensive in northern Gaza is preventing the estimated 75,000 to 95,000 Palestinians in the north from receiving essential items for their survival.

On Thursday, the Israeli military said it will allow 300 truckloads of humanitarian aid supplied by the United Arab Emirates to enter the Gaza Strip in the coming days. That’s less than the 350 trucks per day that the United States said it wants to see enter the war-ravaged territory.