Ad telling women not to move for Charedi passengers rejected
A billboard in New Jersey urging women not to give up their seats for Orthodox men was rejected
A billboard informing women on flights to Israel that they do not have to switch seats to accommodate charedi Orthodox Jewish passengers was rejected by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
However, the Port Authority now says it is reviewing its ad guidelines, “making it likely that the seating ad will eventually appear at a local airport,” according to The New York Times, which reported Sunday on the rejection of the ad last month.
Sponsored by the Israel Religious Action Center, the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform movement in Israel, the ad reads: “Ladies, please take your seat … and keep it.” It explains that requiring a person to switch seats because of gender is illegal and that flight attendants are not allowed to ask a passenger to switch seats to enable segregation by gender.
The center, known as the IRAC, planned to hang the billboard in the El Al airlines passenger waiting area at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Guidelines for ads in airports, subways and bus stations say they must be for a product or a service and cannot offer a religious or political message. Allowances are sometimes made for public service announcements, though that is left to the discretion of the Port Authority.
The IRAC has hired a civil rights lawyer to convince the Port Authority to allow the billboards to hang, and he has already provided some legal precedents in favour of it, according to the Times.
In recent years there have been increasing complaints by women who have been asked to switch seats, because male charedi passengers find it immodest to sit next to a woman. In one example, an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor last December sued El Al after she was asked to change seats on a flight from Newark Liberty to Tel Aviv.
https://t.co/tePcGGrHsf We attempted to take our #Rights_On_Flights campaign to the next level and hit a wall… Read all about it! pic.twitter.com/hjIqfzPtmt
— IRAC (@Israel_RAC) October 9, 2016
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
