After years in which the Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber was at the forefront of the struggle against the exclusion of women, the government decided to take its authority over this matter and transfer it to the Authority for the Advancement of the Status of Women in the Ministry for Social Equality.

The Ministry of Social Equality will coordinate the issue with the government

Zilber, who has become a ‘red sheet’ in the eyes of the right and the religious parties, is receiving a second cut in her powers after the justice minister expropriated the authority to enforce the law in Yehuda and Shomron six months ago. Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked told ‘BaSheva’ that she agreed to the Minister of Social Equality’s request to transfer the powers to the Ministry for Social Equality, and that “the Justice Ministry should not deal with the implementation of policies of other ministries but on legal issues.”

In recent years, Dina Zilber has worked against local authorities and public bodies that have held gender segregation events in a way perceived by many as exaggerated. According to a Justice Department report from 2013, public authorities are not allowed to organize events in a separate meeting or in any other form of separation.

Then Attorney General Weinstein appointed Zilber to address implementation of the report. Among her other actions, she threatened Bar Ilan University with sanctions if women were not permitted to sing during a Memorial Day ceremony. This despite the fact men were not scheduled to perform at the event.

Regarding the “מרימים לכיפור” event, Zilber told Tel Aviv City Hall it cannot permit a private event in which men sing to the exclusion of women for as long as the event is held in a public venue.

In yet another event, Zilber sent a letter to the IDF Chief of Staff after it was reported Givati Brigade commander Ofir Winter decided to have a male singer at an event, not a female. It was later learned that Zilber’s information was mistaken and there was no such event planned.

One of the outspoken critics of Zilber is MK (Bayit Yehudi) Betzalel Smotrich, who opposed her intervention in religious events. Upon hearing her authority is being curtailed for a second time, Smotrich praised the move.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)