The Emes L’Yaakov in Israel organization sent a strongly worded warning letter to Israel Railways on Sunday, accusing the company of operating a “dual, discriminatory, and unlawful policy” toward the Chareidi public after it shut down the Jerusalem station during the mass atzeres tefillah last month.

The organization threatened to file a class-action lawsuit and a petition to the Supreme Court if an official response is not provided within seven days.

The letter detailed the stark disparity in the company’s response to major events. During the mass atzeres tefillah in Jerusalem last month, it shut down the entire Jerusalem line and closed the Yitzchak Navon station, with no advance notice or alternative arrangements.

In contrast, the company added 14 special trains for the concerts of popular singer Eyal Golan earlier this month and has announced extra trains and extended routes for soccer games next month.

The organization stated that the railway’s justification—that service is canceled for safety reasons during large-scale events rather than reinforced—was never made public, has no legal footing, and was applied exclusively in the case of the Jerusalem atzeres. The organization also noted that holders of monthly passes and daily tickets paid for service but did not receive it and were not compensated—which it considers unlawful and grounds for a class-action suit.

Their demands include establishing a uniform written policy for all mass events, an automatic compensation mechanism for ticket holders who were denied service on the day of the atzeres, the publication of a transparent and consistent operational standard, and a ban on station closures without explicit legal authority.

The letter stressed that Israel Railways, as a government-owned company, is obligated to uphold equality, reasonableness, proportionality, and neutrality, and that Supreme Court rulings forbid discrimination in public services based on the identity of users or the nature of an event.

Israel Railways responded that the temporary closure of the Yitzhak Navon station was carried out “according to police instructions and after safety aspects were considered.”

The police, however, clarified that they had not ordered the closure but merely flagged potential safety risks during a situational assessment.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)