In accordance with the directive of Maran Ha-Gar'ach Kanievsky, Mayor Moshe Leon decided: The Haredi educational institutions for girls of the Lithuanian community in Jerusalem will remain closed.
Following the directive, several left-wing social organizations urgently wrote a letter to the mayor demanding that the decision be reversed: "We demand that all institutions in the city open immediately in accordance with government guidelines, without any gender discrimination or other improper discrimination.".
In a letter sent on behalf of Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality, the Women's Lobby in Israel, the Rakman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women - Faculty of Law, Bar Ilan University, and the organization "The Haredi Public is a State", the organizations emphasize that this decision, they claim, is discriminatory and illegal.
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""The Jerusalem Municipality, like every authority in the State of Israel, is committed to the principles according to which every child, girl and boy in Israel is entitled to education according to law; and discrimination against them on the basis of gender is absolutely prohibited...""
It was further stated that the decision "prevents girls from receiving a public service granted to boys without any relevant distinction that justifies a distinction between the sexes, and thus also contradicts the Attorney General's instructions on the subject.".
The authors of the letter further claim that there is no legal basis for a mayor in Israel to subordinate his opinion to the position of a rabbi, and that the relevant powers on the matter were granted by law to the local authority and the Ministry of Education.
The organizations appealing stated that they demand that all institutions in the city open immediately in accordance with government guidelines, without any gender discrimination or other improper discrimination, otherwise there will be no escape from taking immediate legal action in the matter.
