Israeli Bus Company Fined After Driver Enforces Sex Segregation

In Israel on Wednesday, the Rishon Lezion Magistrate Court fined Egged, Israel's largest bus company, the equivalent of $1,070 (US) for requiring a woman passenger to sit in the back of the bus while the bus traveled through a Haredi (strictly Orthodox) neighborhood.  According to JTA, a driver told the passenger (an Orthodox woman who objected to sitting in the back) that only the rabbis decide whether a bus route is segregated or not. Egged issued a statement saying that the driver was not reflecting the company's views. Last January, Israel's High Court of Justice ruled that while sex-segregated buses serving strictly Orthodox communities could continue on a strictly voluntary basis, a bus operator may not request or order a woman to sit in the back of the bus. (See prior posting.)