Israel’s Treasury has now reportedly told the High Court that it will
act as an insurance company for Egged and will compensate it for any
damage haredi vandals do when Egged and its advertising agency Cnaan
Media comply with the High Court’s ruling and runs ads depicting women –
and, presumably, all other banned beings.
Mock-up of one of the ads Egged refused to run as it would have looked
Israeli Government To Insure Egged Bus Company Against Haredi Vandalism
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The Egged Bus Company, which operates public city buses in Jerusalem, stopped running ads more than two years ago in and on its buses in Jerusalem that depict women because haredim were vandalizing the buses that had those ads – even if the females depicted were modestly clothed and were toddlers, even if they were modestly clothed cartoon figures.
Rachel Azaria, a city councilperson who heads the Yerushalmim Movement, petitioned the High Court of Justice to stop Egged’s gender discrimination.
Egged had refused to run Azaria’s campaign ads because they featured a photograph of her. In that photo Azaria – who is herself Orthodox – is modestly dressed.
Azaria’s petition was joined by several other groups supporting women’s rights and religious freedom.
That petition led to Egged circumventing a looming High Court of Justice ruling against it by banning all depictions of all human or human-like figures, even cartoons. For good measure, it banned all ads depicting non-kosher animals, dinosaurs – and space aliens.
That led Azaria, Yerushalmim and the other groups to go back to the High Court to try to force Egged to stop.
In its response to that petition, Israel’s Treasury has now reportedly told the High Court that it will act as an insurance company for Egged and will compensate it for any damage haredi vandals do when Egged and its advertising agency Cnaan Media comply with the High Court’s ruling and finally runs ads depicting women – and, presumably, all other banned beings.
Earlier this month, Egged’s CEO Ohad Gibli said that as far as he's concerned, the Egged public bus company is an exclusively haredi company within the borders of Jerusalem.
"…[W]e function in Jerusalem as a haredi media company because the buses pass through haredi neighborhoods, and just as haredi media won't post an ad with a message that calls for opening businesses on Shabbat, and just as other media outlets don't feature women, the same is true of me. In the wake of the petition to the High Court it was decided [by me] that there would be no figures at all, and to our regret that is the situation today,” Gibli reportedly said.
Recent Related Egged Posts:
Egged To Continue Haredi Post-Shabbat ‘Free Rides’ – Despite Widespread Alleged Haredi Theft.
Israeli Bus Company Ad Warns Haredim That Stealing Rides Is Wrong.
Haredi Zealots Vandalize New Bus Stops Over 'Immodest' Benches.
Israeli Bus Company Bans Space Alien Ads Due To Fears Of Haredi Violence.
[Hat Tp: Seymour.]