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UTJ Rejects Criticism of Mehadrin Bus Lines
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
United Torah Judaism sent a pointed letter on Monday to Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz. Noting
that "the Mehadrin lines are voluntary, carried out by women who want
to retain their dignity when using public transportation, on their own
initiative, not through coercion," they demanded that the prime
minister retract his remarks.
"We were astounded," reads the letter, which was written by UTJ
Chairman MK Rabbi Yisrael Eichler, "to read the announcement you sent
after Sunday's cabinet meeting on separate seating on buses, following
an incident with a woman in Ashdod."
"We firmly denounce any coercion, whether it is coercing women to
stand on crowded buses or coercing women to move toward the back of
the bus," the letter explains. "The entire chareidi public denounces
any incident of coercion and we were quite surprised by his remarks,
which are apparently part of a wider campaign of incitement against
the chareidi public and against the Mehadrin lines in particular,
although they have been operating on a regular basis for over two
decades."
On Tuesday night MK Rabbi Uri Maklev sent a letter to PM Netanyahu,
demanding he put a stop to the incitement against the Mehadrin lines.
In the letter Maklev explains that the Mehadrin routes, which pass
through chareidi neighborhoods, pose no harm to anyone.
"The entire foundation of the Mehadrin lines was formed through
dignity for women," writes Rabbi Maklev. "There is no other community
that safeguards the honor of women like the chareidi community."
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