Mainstream news outlets amplified the accusations.
Jerusalem, October 12 – Festering social and political resentments have prompted figures in Yesh Atid, Labor, and Blue-and-White Parties to exploit the sentiments by accusing Likud and its Haredi allies of the intention to segregate the parliament by the sexes in the manner that sparked the disruption of a prayer service in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur evening two weeks ago.
Opposition lawmakers leveled the charge this morning as the Knesset geared up for its autumn-winter legislative session. “Bibi and his religious-coercion cronies want to force this assembly to adhere to practices from the dark ages,” declared Labor Chairwoman Meirav Michaeli. “The Knesset is no place for the benighted institution of the mechitza, which relegates women to the sidelines at best. This is just one more way in which Bibi is leading this country to ruin.”
“The intolerance on display in Tel Aviv two weeks ago should have shown us already,” stated Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. Listeners expressed initial confusion at his remarks, given that the anti-religious activists in Tel Aviv initiated the disturbances by objecting to an outdoor service in Dizengoff Square that included an option of separate seating for men and women. Sensing the awkwardness, he recovered quickly. “The brave people of Tel Aviv had no choice but to respond to that provocation by Bibi’s dearest allies,” he added, mitigating his earlier lack of clarity but muddling the identity of those who sought to participate in the disrupted Yom Kippur service, whose political affiliations were not confined to one segment of the political spectrum.
Prominent figures in the far-left Meretz Party, which failed to meet the electoral threshold in the most recent elections, seized on the accusation as a way to reassert its relevance. “We could have told you this was coming,” stated Zahava Gal-On, referring to the putative mechitza in the Knesset. “Only a strong Meretz will help keep Israel secular and stem the tide of religious coercion.”
Mainstream news outlets amplified the accusations. Dailies Haaretz, Yediot Aharonot, and Maariv all ran the statements on their front pages; official denials that any such intent, let alone proposal exists, along with challenges by coalition figures to the Opposition to prove the mechitza assertions, appeared in the tenth or fourteenth paragraphs of the articles, far inside the newspapers themselves.
Prime Minister Netanyahu reacted to the accusations by announcing interviews with two Hollywood personalities, two conservative American talk show hosts, one popular right-wing academic, and the BBC.
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