The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court issued a ruling on Monday ordering Tel Aviv University to pay a religious student NIS 45,000 in compensation for discrimination.

When a frum student at the university’s school of management was invited to meetings of university students with foreign students in non-kosher restaurants, he requested that at least some of the events be held in kosher restaurants, but the university ignored his repeated requests and never even considered making an effort to look for a kosher restaurant.

In the ruling, Judge Barkai states that the university discriminated against students who are shomrei kashrut, in an abusive manner, with a lack of discretion, while belittling and lashing out at their requests for consideration. A response by the university to the student’s request, quoted in the ruling, stated that “you only want to please your personal needs” and ‘reminded him’ that ‘about a quarter of the country’s citizens are not Jewish but are equal citizens.'”

“While the plaintiff sought rights that he claimed he was entitled to, the defendant did not hesitate to accuse him of bullying,” the ruling said. “Thus, for example, the defendant stated: ‘This lawsuit is a bullying, invalid and outrageous attempt to dictate to the university and to all students – including foreign students who fund the networking events out of their own pockets – the plaintiff’s personal beliefs.”

The ruling stated that “the university was so disrespectful to the plaintiff’s inquiries that it responded with an outrageous letter” and that “the request to hold the events, or at least one of them, in a kosher restaurant is not so unfounded. The request for kosher food is not a culinary preference of one kind or another for the plaintiff. The request for kosher food stems from religious precepts that are not foreign to the Jewish and Muslim public – two sectors that constitute the majority of the public in the State of Israel.”

The student sued for NIS 100,000 compensation for the discrimination, and a restraining order prohibiting the university from discriminating between students and holding events in non-kosher restaurants.

The court did not accept his request for a restraining order but ruled that he was indeed discriminated against and ordered the university to compensate him in the amount of NIS 30,000 and another NIS 15,000 in attorney’s fees.

Shai Glick, the head of the B’Tzalmo human rights organization, said: “I welcome the court’s decision that religious people also have human rights. It is very unfortunate that Tel Aviv University, which is proud of its liberalism and tolerance and openness, is davka less considerate to the religious public and its way of life. I am confident that this ruling will serve as a wake-up call to public institutions and bodies to also respect the religious public and its beliefs and ways of life.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)