A female passenger refused to move to the back of a bus in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Ashdod on Friday, leading to a fracas that resulted in police being called to the scene. Tanya Rosenblit boarded the Egged bus company's 451 line from Ashdod to Jerusalem on Friday on her way to a meeting, taking a front-row seat near the driver. A group of ultra-Orthodox Jews then boarded at a stop in one of Ashdod's most religious neighborhoods, Ashdod Gimmel, and stood with their jaws agape when they saw Rosenblit. One of the men who boarded the bus called Rosenblit a "shiksa" (a derogatory term for non-Jewish women), and demanded she move to the back of the bus. She refused, and the man objected to the bus drivers continuing the trip. As tensions flared inside the bus, a group of ultra-Orthodox men gathered outside to protest the woman's decision to sit the front. The bus driver, unable to continue, called the police. Rosenblit, meanwhile, videotaped what was transpiring and posted the recording on her Facebook page. The story was publicized on online reporter Ido Kenan's blog, "Room 404." Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! "The policeman came and asked me if I would be willing to respect their request and sit in the back. I answered that I respect them enough by dressing modestly, as I knew I would be heading to an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood, but that I will not allow myself to be humiliated by those who cannot respect their own mothers and wives," Rosenblit wrote on her Facebook page shortly after the incident. The ultra-Orthodox man who insulted the woman ended up staying in Ashdod, while the rest of the group boarded the bus and arrived at their destination 30 minutes late. Commenting on the incident during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israeli society is a mosaic composed of Jews and Arabs, secular and ultra-orthodox, and until today we have agreed on peaceful coexistence and mutual respect among all sectors. Recently, we have witnessed numerous attempts to unravel this coexistence. For example, today I heard about a case of moving a woman on a bus. I strongly oppose this. I think that marginal groups cannot be allowed to dismantle our common denominator and we must maintain the public space as an open and safe for all Israelis. We need to look for what unites and bridges, not what divides and separates, and this is how we will act." Transportation and Road Safety Minister Yisrael Katz on Sunday ordered an investigation into the incident, saying that if Egged or the driver failed to meet procedure they would be punished to the full extent of the law, Israel Radio reported. Israel's Supreme Court has outlawed gender segregation on buses and sidewalks, but some transit routes and public spaces remain segregated in practice. The segregation occurs only in the country's most religiously observant and insulated neighborhoods. Last week a small claims court in Rishon Letzion ordered Israel's largest bus company to pay NIS 4,000 ($1,050) to a woman who was ordered to sit in the back of the bus by a driver in the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak. Reports of gender exclusion inside the ultra-Orthodox community have made headlines recently as bus segregation, male-only advertising images and separate sidewalks have gained momentum. In addition, a widely publicized incident in which religiously observant soldiers walked out of a singing performance by female soldiers further stoked the issue. Rosenblit wrote on her Facebook page that gender segregation "must be fought." She also voiced her outrage at police. "The police's behavior deserves an investigation. Instead of protecting me, they sided with the woman-excluding ultra-Orthodox." Ashdod Police said they dispatched a squad car to the bus, and while they did attempt to find a compromise, they at no point instructed the woman to sit in back. They said they told the ultra-Orthodox man who was blocking the bus either to move or be arrested, at which point he moved and the bus continued on its way. The police noted that Rosenblit did not press charges against the man. Mickey Gitzin, the chairman of Be Free Israel (a non-profit organization that promotes a pluralistic society), released a statement in response to the incident. "Israel needs aggressive chemotherapy to stop the spread of the cancer known as gender segregation," he wrote. The attempt to prevent Tanya Ronsenblit from sitting at the front of the bus marks a new chapter in the fight to free the Israeli woman."
