A religious singer recently filed a precedential lawsuit in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court against the Jerusalem Municipality, after refusing to support her show because it is intended for women only | The singer claims that the municipality’s refusal constitutes an act of discrimination
A precedent claim was submitted to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court against the Municipality of Jerusalem, by a religious singer named Nirit Hotobli, after she said that the Jerusalem Municipality refused to support her show because it is intended only for women. According to her, the refusal of the municipality to support her show because it is intended only for women is an act of discrimination. “They force me to appear in front of men,” Hotobli explained.
According to the report of Shlomo Piotrkatevski in Makor Rishon, the sequence of events that led to the filing of the lawsuit began with a call by the Jerusalem Municipality, which addressed the creators and invited them to participate in a series of content events on weekends in private homes. As part of the project, residents of the city are invited to host in their private homes a creator from The pool of creators chosen, according to their taste and preferences, and the municipality subsidizes the event.
In the regulations of the project it is emphasized that “there will be no religious, gender or sectarian discrimination in the events and in their content”. After Hotovli read it, she asked the people in charge if she could still participate in it. The answer confirmed her fears. “According to the procedures of the Jerusalem Municipality, events cannot legally be held in a gender-segregated manner,” said the answer she received, and therefore “you will not be able to participate in the project due to your special need.”
According to the report in Makor Rishon, Hotobli sent an email to the municipality in which she claimed that her appearance in front of women does not harm anyone, but this appeal was not even answered. She therefore sent a warning to the municipality through her attorney, Adv.
Nordman claims in the lawsuit that it is not Hotobli’s refusal to appear before women, but rather the municipality’s decision to prevent her from participating in the project, that constitutes discrimination on the grounds of religion. “There is no legal source that prohibits a singer’s performance in front of only women,” it said there. “There is no question about that: in fact, according to the municipality’s position, in order for a woman to be allowed to sing and practice her profession, she must also provide her services to men, against her will”!
Nordman further attacked that “this position is incomprehensible: forcing a man to provide a personal service, certainly forcing a woman to provide a personal service such as singing to a man – no, she will not be able to sing at all – belongs to other periods and other regimes, and undermines the foundations of institutions in our legal system. There is no Therefore, it is a mystery that there is no source of the teacher’s laws that way.”
The amount of the claim against the municipality is NIS 50,000, in accordance with the law prohibiting discrimination in products and services. Now the municipality will be required to submit a statement of defense within sixty days.
Attorney Nordman, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Hotobli, told ‘Mekor Rishon’ that “the meaning of the municipality’s decision is that the way to participate in the votes of these readers, and in general to benefit from public funding, is blocked for a religious artist who adheres to Halacha. This is clear discrimination on the grounds of religion.
The Jerusalem Municipality responded: “The general directive is that any request to hold a segregated event must be legally examined and permission to hold the event must be obtained. Upon receipt of the request regarding alleged discrimination, the Youth Authority, which published “The Calling Voice”, was instructed to freeze the project in order to check the claims made It was made clear to the creator that she will be allowed to submit an application for the project, and it will be examined in accordance with the established parameters in accordance with the provisions of the law and in accordance with the rules in the framework of the procedure. The municipality will submit its response to the statement of claim to the court.”