The Hidden Israel

By Symi Rom-Rymer A chubby young African boy dressed head-to-toe in an Israeli police officer’s uniform looks defiantly into the camera.  A teenage girl in a pink room solemnly faces the camera under her hijab.  A transvestite clad in a rhinestone studded bra and panties dances with abandon in a Jerusalem night club.  These are the faces of another, less visible Israel.  Their stories and struggles are often overshadowed by the sexier tales of relentless violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  But for one night, African guest workers and their children, Arab Israelis, members of the transgendered community and other marginalized groups are the center of attention. The Envisioning Justice exhibit featuring Israel's marginalized groups was part of a social justice-themed benefit for the New Israel Fund, a New York-based non-profit organization that focuses on civil society and...

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Women to Israeli government: no to back of the bus

By Sarah Breger Last week's news of Nofrat Frenkel's arrest for wearing a Taalit at the Western Wall caused outrage among those concerned (and frustrated by) the relationship between religion and law in Israel. Yet there is another more troubling issue that will be decided at the end of the month. On December 27th, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz of Likud must decide whether or not he will uphold his committee’s recommendation to get rid of gender-segregated bus lines in Israel. The first gender-segregated, or as they are called in Israel, mehadrin lines (after a strict kosher supervision category) were introduced in 1977, and their numbers have been increasing ever since. On these buses, which run through ultra-religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem or Bnei Brak, women board from the rear entrance and are not allowed to enter if they are...

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