Public funding should not be used for gender segregated events on Student Day
Another controversy that we could do without, and that Haredi students shouldn't ask for:
A planned, gender separate Student Day event in Jerusalem for religious and haredi students has generated a fierce controversy in the capital, with secular campaigners denouncing Jerusalem city hall for funding gender segregation.Well they're being very stupid not to object or voice disagreement, and risk drawing criticism from leftists who aren't even doing it altruistically. It's ludicrous to encourage a community with questionable customs to keep on with them as though nothing was wrong.
Student associations around the country hold major celebrations on Student Day, which is held every year on Jerusalem Day, which falls this year on June 5, involving live music, dance, food, theatrical productions and similar activities.
With the growing number of haredi students in higher education, along with significant numbers of national-religious students, greater interest has been expressed in recent years by such students for Student Day activities which are more appropriate for their lifestyle.
Following long-term planning spanning several years, several parties in the Jerusalem Municipal Council succeeded in allocating NIS 282,000 for a separate Student Day event to take place in Teddy Park and Hutzot Hayotzer, opposite the Old City of Jerusalem. Between 500 to 2,000 students are expected to attend.
On Tuesday however, the legal adviser to the Jerusalem Municipality Attorney Haim Nargassi said that gender segregation at municipality funded events was illegal, even if requested by a particular community, unless the event involves a prayer service.
Nargassi said that signs or partitions at the religious Student Day celebration could not be used to separate men and women, but added that those attending the event could voluntarily separated into different areas, adding however that “it is forbidden to carry out physical action to enact separation.”
A statement issued by the Jerusalem Municipal Council said that the event would go ahead as planned, saying that the council was not coercing gender separation “but students are of course allowed to sit and dance separately and celebrate in accordance with their own preferences.”
Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Jerusalem, misogyny, Moonbattery
