A magistrate’s court ruled last year that the Beit Shemesh municipal authority was negligent in not removing them and ordered the city to pay compensation to four women who filed a law suit over the issue.

The court did not have the authority to order the signs removed however so a new suit was filed to the Jerusalem District Court requesting a court order to remove the notices. A hearing on the case has been set for next week.

For several years, prominent signs have be on display in haredi neighborhoods of Beit Shemesh, placed by extremely conservative haredi synagogues and communal organizations, telling women to dress modestly in the particular area of the city where the signs were posted and not to tarry outside certain places, particularly synagogues.

Four women living in Beit Shemesh requested that the municipality remove the signs, but they were taken down resulting in a law suit filed by the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal arm of the Reform Movement in Israel, on behalf of the four women.

In January 2015, the Beit Shemesh Magistrate’s Court ruled that the Beit Shemesh Municipality was guilty of severe negligence for not acting to remove the offending signs which it ruled harmed the rights of women in the city.

The judge ordered the municipal authority to pay a total of NIS 60,000 to four women who had filed the suit

““The signs were designed to restrict women from using public spaces simply because they were women… and constitute a severe injury to the rights of women to equality and respect. The signs are also humiliating,” said Judge David Gideoni in his ruling.

The fines were paid but the magistrate’s court did not have the authority to order that the signs bet taken down and so they remained in place.

IRAC subsequently filed another petition in May last year, this time to the Jerusalem District Court, requesting a court order to the Beit Shemesh municipality instructing it to remove the offending notices.

Shortly before the municipal authority submitted its response to the court in August 2015 some of the signs were removed but according to IRAC they have now been restored.

Other signs were not removed but have faded and other signs have been posted on residential apartment buildings over which the municipal authority has no control. IRAC has submitted separate suits against the residents of these buildings however and some of them have already been issued with indictments.

A spokesman for the Beit Shemesh municipal authority said that the signs had been taken down six months ago and that in one place the sign had been replaced and again taken down.

Nili Philip, one of the parties to the original law suit who is also a plaintiff in the petition to the district court, said however that several of the signs are regularly replaced by designated members of the communities and organizations which insist on the placement of these notices.

“Signs are being regularly fixed and maintained without any effort from the municipality to bring the situation under control,” Philip alleged. 

Said IRAC executive director Anat Hoffman “In places like Beit Shemesh, officials have used street signs like these to control the religiosity of the entire public sphere by policing where women walk and what they wear.

“There are lots of problems in Beit Shemesh that need fixing. Exposed women’s ankles and strands of her hair sticking out from under head-coverings should not be what concerns the municipality and its mayor.”