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How Israel enables discrimination against ultra-Orthodox women

Those praising Israeli democracy must remember that women are constantly discriminated against by ultra-Orthodox parties that are part of the ruling coalition.
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On Dec. 18, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley took the opportunity of a periodic Security Council debate on the situation in the Middle East, which generally focuses on the injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, to attack the organization for being what she termed “a disproportionately hostile place for the Middle East’s most enduring democracy.” Luckily for the top American diplomat, she was not born in an ultra-Orthodox family in Jerusalem, the city whose name she has been citing repeatedly in recent days. Ultra-Orthodox women from Jerusalem do not get to be governors or members of Congress and can only dream of an ambassadorial appointment.

The ruling coalition of “the most enduring democracy” in the Middle East includes two ultra-Orthodox political parties that have never been represented by a woman. They have never had a single female representative in Israel’s local governments either, nor have they ever had a female representative in the Israeli foreign service. On the other hand, the Republic of Iran, notorious for its religious fanaticism, has 17 women members of parliament. Afghanistan, Tunisia, Sudan and South Sudan leave “the only democracy in the Middle East” behind in terms of women’s parliamentary participation.

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