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Haaretz
original article
Mon., December 28, 2009 Tevet 11, 5770 | Israel Time: 01:29 (EST+7)
Discrimination and contempt
By Haaretz Editorial
The affair surrounding discrimination against Mizrahi students at the Beit
Yaakov girls' school in the West Bank settlement of Immanuel crossed yet
another threshold this week. As the Noar Kahalakha nonprofit organization
again petitioned the High Court (this time over Ashkenazi students' contempt
of court in refusing to attend class following the ruling requiring the
school's integration), Religious Services Minister Yaakov Margi of Shas said
that "there is a Sephardi school - there is no longer discrimination."
With a wink from the head of the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox community, the
Shas leadership added insult to injury by denying discrimination and aiding
in the blatant violation of the High Court's ruling in August. This ruling
said the school must halt segregation, which the court found to be a serious
breach of the law.
Since the filing of the first petition on the matter, the school in Immanuel
has turned into a test case. The school's contemptible practices include
segregation between Ashkenazi and Mizrahi students (Jews of European and
Middle Eastern origin, respectively), demanding different dress codes,
dividing the school into two sections and even requiring that each group
enter through its own door.
The High Court upheld the unique character of the ultra-Orthodox education
system, which justifies division of students based on religious - though not
ethnic - criteria, but rightly noted that "the right to community education
is not absolute, particularly when it comes into conflict with the right to
equality." No excuse - whether based on halakha, tradition or anything else
- can justify the humiliation and crass exclusion of individuals, all the
more so of young girls.
The Shas leadership is demonstrating scorn for both the law and its own
electorate. The party shows a tragic lack of concern for its constituents,
testifying to the inversion of values among the leaders of this supposedly
socially-based party. Shas, after all, was created in the 1980s - ostensibly
as part of the struggle against ethnic discrimination.
It's hard to believe that these students' parents will accept the deceit
that there is "no discrimination" taking place because Shas' Ma'ayan
Hahinuch Hatorani school system has created an institute in Immanuel
specifically for Mizrahi students. This is merely a front - pretending the
school is "kosher" is itself a sin.
The Education Ministry threatened sanctions last week against the school in
Immanuel, but has yet to take decisive action. There is no reason the school
should enjoy the benefit of the doubt - which Petah Tikva religious
schools did not receive in their refusal to admit students of Ethiopian
origin earlier this year - until the High Court returns to hearing the
case. The education minister must instruct the director of the
Beit Yaakov school system to remove every last sign of discrimination within
his institutions, and immediately. If the school's contemptible practices
persist, the state must use all measures at its disposal to end them - from
denying funding to using force to ensure equal treatment.
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