Ultra-Orthodox men order woman to rear of bus

Two ultra-Orthodox men on Friday ordered a 22-year-old woman to move to the back of a public bus from Safed to Ashdod because of her gender. The woman filed a report with the police.

The young woman sat at the front of the intercity coach when a couple of ultra-Orthodox men demanded that she immediately remove herself to the rear of the vehicle.

When she refused, the men shouted she was “impure”, and began reciting prayers and screaming at her.

One of the ultra-Orthodox men then sat on the front steps of the bus near the driver to sit deliberately in front of her. The woman’s younger sister called the police, who sent squad cars to intercept the bus at the entrance of the city.

Policemen boarded the bus and questioned one of the men who yelled at the woman. The woman told the police that she felt threatened and unsafe because of the men’s behavior.

Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled in the past that enforced gender segregation on public buses is illegal.