For the past several years, the ultra-Orthodox religious leaders, particularly in Jerusalem, have pushed gender segregation in their rulings--on local buses, even on sidewalks during holidays like Sukkot. The threat of expanding Rabbinic authority--now filled with Rabbis from one or another ultra-orthodox stream--would certainly diminish the rights of women in cases of divorce and child care. Hareidi women have protested these inequities--forming a party to contest the election a few years ago. But some demands this time are curious. Some Hareidi MKs want an army exemption law to be passed under the Basic Law rubric rendering it more difficult, if not impossible for the Supreme Court to rule it illegal. For non-Zionists who claim secular law is not fully legitimate, this is a curious move.
For the past several years, the ultra-Orthodox religious leaders, particularly in Jerusalem, have pushed gender segregation in their rulings--on local buses, even on sidewalks during holidays like Sukkot. The threat of expanding Rabbinic authority--now filled with Rabbis from one or another ultra-orthodox stream--would certainly diminish the rights of women in cases of divorce and child care. Hareidi women have protested these inequities--forming a party to contest the election a few years ago. But some demands this time are curious. Some Hareidi MKs want an army exemption law to be passed under the Basic Law rubric rendering it more difficult, if not impossible for the Supreme Court to rule it illegal. For non-Zionists who claim secular law is not fully legitimate, this is a curious move.