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.



Russia Captures UK National Fighting Alongside Ukraine in the Kursk Region

Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
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Russia Captures UK National Fighting Alongside Ukraine in the Kursk Region

Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)
Civilians wearing military uniforms take part in a military training organized by Ukrainian soldiers of The Third Separate Assault Brigade in Kyiv, on November 23, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Tetiana DZHAFAROVA / AFP)

The Russian military captured a British national fighting alongside Ukrainian troops in Russia's partially occupied Kursk region, state news agency Tass reported Monday, citing unidentified sources in the law enforcement.
The man was identified by Tass and other media as James Scott Rhys Anderson. Tass quoted him as saying that he had served as a signalman in the British army for four years and then joined the International Legion of Ukraine, formed early on in Russia's nearly 3-year-old war against its neighbor.
In Ukraine, Anderson reportedly served as an instructor for Ukrainian troops and was deployed to the Kursk region against his will. Tass published a video of the man saying in English that he doesn’t want to be “here.”
The report couldn’t be independently verified, but if confirmed it could be the first publicly known case of a Western national captured on Russian soil while fighting for Ukraine.
The UK Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.