Radio station pays fine to feminist group with 300,000 coins

An ultra-Orthodox radio station found a creative way Tuesday to hand over a court-ordered payment to a feminist Orthodox activist group — 300,000 small coins delivered by the bucket load and in cardboard boxes.

However, the group, Kolech, was unfazed by the ploy, posting its own video later in which they said they “loved the gimmick.”

Kolech had sued over the Kol Barama radio station’s refusal to allow women to be interviewed in its broadcasts.

The court ruled in Kolech’s favor, ordering Kol Barama to host women on its radio shows and pay Kolech its expenses and fees totaling NIS 30,000 ($8,470).

So the station’s staffers arrived at Kolech’s headquarters with boxes and buckets bearing 300,000 10 agorot coins and paid the NIS 30,000 it owed using the smallest coin denomination in circulation.

מבצע ״בצע כסף״ • צפו>> pic.twitter.com/EhuJMz1liz

— קול ברמה (@KolBarama) July 15, 2019

The station then celebrated its tantrum with a video titled “Operation Greed” posted online that depicts it as a prank.

Speaking to the camera, a staffer says “You should learn that the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) public isn’t a sucker. Don’t interfere, definitely not out of greed.”

Later Tuesday Kolech published a video in responses to the unusual delivery, which filled a good portion of the lobby at the group’s offices.

“The Kol Baramah gentlemen were here this morning,” a post on the Kolech Facebook page said. “They dropped off in our offices the money that the court ordered them to pay.”

“We loved the gimmick,” it continued. “We didn’t really feel the insult. For some reason, we believe it was worth it to ensure that today there are wonderful women broadcasting on Kol Baramah Radio.”

“Remember: We will gladly accept every 10 agorot coin for a good cause!”