A group of five secular teenagers, including three secular teenage girls dressed for the beach, purposely boarded a Chareidi bus line near Ashdod on Sunday, with one of the girls confirming with the bus driver that it was the Chareidi bus line before boarding.
The bus driver told the girls to cover themselves up with their towels and asked them to sit in the back in order to show respect to the Chareidi bus passengers.
The girls reported the incident to the press who blew up the story in a “Israel is turning into Iran” incident. The girls told the press that the Chareidim on the bus did not make any negative statements to them and were even friendly to them when the bus stopped at a rest stop. However, they said that they felt “harassed” because some of the Chareidi men lowered their eyes when they passed instead of looking at them!
Following the reports about the incident, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday issued a statement saying: “The State of Israel is a free country in which no one will restrict who may use public transportation or dictate who sits where. Whoever does so is violating the law and must answer for it.”
The bus company, Nateev Express, issued a statement condemning all types of discrimination and said it is reviewing the incident.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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32 Responses
They felt “harassed” because people didn’t look at them. That’s a new one.
“911 what’s you’re emergency?”
“I’m being harassed”
“What’s the situation?”
“People don’t want to look at me”
“…..huh!?….”
Bibi’s statement would have been more constructive if he had added that he places great value on every section of the public respecting their fellow citizens. One winders if he would have said the same if it had been a bus in the Muslim sector where some kids decided to dress their way for the beach, on the bus. I guess then his statement might have wished all those badly injured a speedy recovery noting that violence is never the way to go.
“However, they said that they felt “harassed” because some of the Chareidi men lowered their eyes when they passed instead of looking at them!“
In America you can be called out for workplace harassment if you look at someone (giving them the one over) because of the way they’re dressed
How low the frei have sunk
Wow, this article has shown how deceptive YWN is.
There is footage of the interaction. The driver harassed the girls. It wasn’t cordial like you make it, nor just men looking away.
I’m not saying who was right or wrong, but it definitely wasn’t as you reported.
There is a reason the (public) bus company condemned the incident and the driver will most likely be fired.
What incident ???
Wow!
In the “Yidish State” one can dress in beach clothing and if someone only “guards his eyes” he discriminates.
Even in America, people don’t try to just intimidate with their clothing.
Woe to the state of the so called Jewish State.
IF they had to be covered up with towels, I assume they were wearing beach clothes. Asking girls not to board a frum bus in a bikini makes a lot of sense.
If this had been a bus with Moslem zealots furious over a poorly clad woman on their bus, Netanyahu wouldn’t have dared so much as utter 1 comment against a bus company telling such a woman to place towel over her body, so why is this case bothering Netanyahu so much?
I can’t believe how biased this article is. This is crazy! Do you realize that Haredi men lower their eyes thousands of times a day. Do you really think that this will make press attention?! No! This was unique because two very young girls got harassed and told to go to the back of the bus and to wear blankets. Telling someone where to sit is illegal and probably harassment, they can sit wherever they want, even between two Haredim men, if the men want to get up because of their shittah (which is against Rav Moshe’s psak about public transportation) then they should do that. In addition, body shaming young girls and screaming at them is definitely harassment.
There’s no such thing as a “frum bus,” if frum people want to rent their own bus fine. But if it’s public then it’s for anyone. If it’s legal to wear a bathing suit in the bus (there are places where it is legal – like the beach – and places where it is illegal) then it’s no one’s business telling then what to do. But I doubt it was a bathing suit because I think it actually is illegal. I saw reports about blankets, not towels.
Also, people here have no idea what their talking about. Arab girls can dress how they want and they won’t get harassed. I don’t kbow why you assume that all Arabs in the West Bank are wearing burkahs. In reality, that’s more of a Saudi thing then the more secular Egyptians, Syrians, and Palestinians. Most religious women wear hijabs (just a head covering, not a burkah) but they also all wear pants. And there are a ton of Arab girls and women who don’t cover their hair and wear normal secular clothes. We don’t hear about them getting harassed. Anyone who lives in Israel realizes that the Haredim are absolutely obsessed with buses and tznius, way more than any other group.
Miriam, what arenyou talking about?!?!?! Who intimidated someone with their clothes? How are people who gaurd their eyes discriminated against?! No ones cares what you do with your eyes. But yelling at girls and intimidating THEM is harassment. They just were on the bus minding their own business. עולם הפוך אני רואה!
Yiddeishemensch, oy, isn’t it terrible that the driver told off the girls to dress appropriately on a Chareidi bus and have some respect for other’s values? That’s totally “harassment”… NOT! The girls who came onto a Chareidi bus in “modern bathing suits”, totally inappropriately (un)dressed were the ones harassing the Chareidim!
No wedding’s for these. Tsvhuva. No different than tossing eggs. Shame on you Bibi. What else will you forgive
Bad girls
You can’t board an airplane like this. Shameful girls. Imagine their mothers
Disgusting. It just shows that Bibi might be a better alternative than Lapid yemach shemo or Bennett. But he is in no way a true ally of chareidim. Look up his stance on LGBT issues which is also liberal for American standards. He is not the tzadik that some of you naive commenters make him out to be.
Yes these girls should’ve been forced to cover up. Forget about tznius, basic decency tells a person not to go into public transport like that. In NYC it would only be the lowest of the low that would do that.
Rubbish A-Z
The hutzpa of these girls is amazing. They were not taught to be sensitive to the people around them. Even before I was religious, I just knew this as a kid. Perhaps it’s because my parents, obm taught me to be respectful to all people. The PM should realize this.
If they had passed the Taliban women, they would have also looked away. They clearly were the provocative party looking for an opportunity. Sad! They are Yidisher girls.
They were clearly doing this on purpose. Most normal people just board a bus dressed normally and change at the beach.
Put those filthy troublemakers in jail
It’s not harassment and inciting to deliberately go on that bus and force people to look at bookers.??
Where are the religious MKs?
This must stop
Disgusting Bibi!!
Oh yes sorry
“Free country ”
For everyone besides the religious
Sickening
What does a “Chareidi Bus” mean? If it’s a piblic bus then it is NOT Chareidi. It is PUBLIC, that means that people can dress whatever way is legal (there are indecency laws so people can’t do whatever they want). There’s no concept of being sensitive to people who disregard your existence. The Chareidim on the bus are the ones who must be tolerant. Dressing legally on a bus is not insensitive.
““Free country ”
For everyone besides the religious”
Are you crazy? How is it not free for the religious. What right do they have to force people to dress in a way that’s not required by law?!?!?! Even if they DID do it deliberately. But, I’m sorry to tell you, people don’t dress how they do for Chareidim to think about them. I really don’t understand how anyone can believe that’s what people do.
We all comprehend the true colors of Netanyahu’s feelings towards pretty women V Chareidi people, because we all vividly remember how Netanyahu gleefully locked out of Israel all religious Chutznikim Jews, but making so absolutely sure, that Miss World contestants would be at all times, before so absolutely most welcome in Israel
Another way of looking at it: These girls are tinokos she’nishsba and their neshomos are screaming out to us to daven for them to get them out of the klipos that they’ve been trapped in and save them from the fate that awaits people who do such things. Also reach out to them and explain to them gently that chareidi men like to keep their eyes just for their wives who work so hard to bring up their families and deserve to be rewarded in this very meaningful way. Another idea is to start a charidy fund to raise money to help the driver with any legal and other expenses he might incur and to reward him for his consideration for his passengers. Also, I’ve been saying for years that whenever men get on buses they should fill up the front rows from the beginning so there won’t be room for women.
A frum bus is a bus that frum people take. Why should a public bus be always into secularism, even if the bus serves 99% frum people? Are we not also public? Do our concerns and values and opinions not matter?
Why is it that wheb people try to follow the law of Hakodesh Boruch Hu is this an issue. Obviously I wasn’t there but what I understood was that these girls did it on purpose. Anybody who says things like we have shouldn’t race are voice by blatant disregard for the law of Hashem Yisborach is in my opinion actually attacking the people that try to be fateful to the Heiliger Torah.
No, your values and opinions have no relevance if people follow the law and wear clothes that actually most Israelis wear. Just because frum Jews don’t like the clothes doesn’t mean that they can force people to change what is normal to accommodate them. People respect your values within yourself. If Charedim want to discriminate in their own private buses that is fine. But just because 99% of a public bus (which is probably exaggerated) are frum doesn’t mean anything. I don’t understand why people don’t understand that their personal feelings shouldn’t affect the law of an entire country!
Dan the, they weren’t wearing clothing, that was the problem.
This is ridiculous. They were wearing clothing the way most Israelis wear clothing. If an insular community feels that what many people wear is considered “no clothing” then they should take private buses or look away. This is the way most of the Western world dresses during the summer. If you want to go scream and yell you could, but in my opinion, it makes a way bigger Chilul Hashem and is making frum people look like creeps.
There’s public indecency laws in Israel just like there is in the US. If the people didn’t violate the law they were obviously wearing enough clothing for a public area in the eyes of the majority of society. That’s the way the world works.
They were wearing beachwear. That is indecent. And even if they were only wearing shorts that is indecent as well and they need to respect the Chareidi bus line. Secular Israelis need to respect Chareidim AT LEAST as much as they respect Muslims and wouldn’t antagonize them. The “world” doesn’t work in one way…some people are respectful and others are not. Just because secular undressed consider themselves dressed doesn’t mean that they are. And in this case specifically they were not dressed, they wore beachwear and some of them didn’t even have shoes on…you are defending indecent behavior and that shows a lot about you.