The head of the Knesset Committee for the Advancement of the Status of Women, MK Aida Touma-Sliman, accused the police of failing to implement the rule of law in Beit Shemesh, the site of an ongoing fight to remove so-called modesty signs in Charedi neighborhoods and make the areas safe for members of the non-ultra-Orthodox public.
Her comments were made during a tour of Beit Shemesh, conducted by the committee to examine the situation in such neighborhoods, following efforts by the municipality and the police to remove signs demanding that women dress conservatively.
But despite several operations in recent days conducted by the Beit Shemesh Municipal Authority with the backing of the police, some modesty signs have reappeared.
At the bottom of Nahar Hayarden Street, a major thoroughfare traversing Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, one of the most radical neighborhoods in the city, a sign telling women to dress modestly has been hung at the top of a prominent building where a much-larger sign used to hang.
In other parts of Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, stickers have been plastered on bus stops, road signs and charity boxes that say: “Stop – Haredi neighborhood! Passage is only with modest clothing!” Similar warnings have been hung in the same neighborhood where some of the larger signs used to be, or simply spray-painted onto walls.
On Hazon Ish Street in the Nahala U’Menucha neighborhood, a sign telling women to walk on the other side of the road has been replaced with one that reads: “Women are requested to refrain from using/tarrying on this sidewalk.”
During the tour, MKs Aida Touma-Sliman, Leah Fadida, Mossi Raz and Ksenia Svetlova walked around one of the most notorious junctions in Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, accompanied by activists and members of the press.
Large numbers of Haredi residents then began gathering at the junction. While some residents shouted, several women...read more at JPost
