Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg announced Sunday that it plans to oppose a motion by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority to effectively instate gender-segregated swimming at nature reserves.
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Last year, the Justice Ministry instructed the INPA to suspend a pilot program to that effect, but the Nature and Parks Authority's legal counsel insisted that implementing the move – lobbied for by the Jewish rights group Bezalmo, which claimed not doing so precluded observant Israelis from visiting many nature sites – would not, in fact, infringe on the principle of equality.
The Attorney General's Office ruled that the INPA did not have the authority to make such a decision independently.
Deputy Attorney General Dina Zilber said at the time that the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which is a state agency, has no right to implement separate-sex swimming at its nature reserves unless the issue was regulated by law.
"Gender segregation is a form of exclusion and constitutes a material violation of equality," Zandberg said. "The American court ruled as early as the 1950s that 'segregation' means 'not equal.' Israeli reality in recent years is rife with segregation – in public transportation, higher education, and events. There is no room to further expand segregation in the public sphere."
She stressed that "as the attorney general has ruled that [the INPA] has no authority on the issue, I will adamantly oppose any attempt to pass legislation on this issue, aimed at normalizing exclusion in the public sphere."
United Torah Judaism leader Moshe Gafni called Zandberg's order barring the Nature and Parks Authority from instating gender-segregated swimming in two locations "dark and primitive."
The minister's order, he said, "Offends men and women, Jews and Arabs alike. According to this decision, anyone whose lifestyle differs from that of the new minister cannot enjoy the bathing sites at INPA parks, even for a little bit,"
Betzalmo CEO Shai Glick vowed to "spare no effort to overturn this decision" and reiterated that as the plan for gender-segregated swimming would only affect a handful of sites, "it would not infringe on anyone's rights."
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