Ultra-Orthodox leaders on Sept. 28 removed barriers from a Jerusalem street that separated men and women after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that the tall screens were illegal.
Representatives of the Eda Haredit, an ultra-Orthodox organization that enforces modesty, erected the barriers in the religious neighborhood of Meah Sha’arim at the start of the Sukkot holiday to ensure that men and women could not touch or mingle.
On Sept. 27, the ELLA-Israeli Feminist Group and two members of the Jerusalem City Council petitioned the court to remove the barriers and the guards who were hired to enforce gender separation.
The court’s decision comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox leadership and non-Orthodox residents, who say hard-line conservatives are trying to impose ultrastringent religious standards on the public at large.
Feminist and civil rights groups are already waging a legal battle over several public bus lines that require women to sit in the back part of the bus. (RNS)
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