Dear Friends of IRAC,
We’re cleaning up Jerusalem – one case at a time.
Last week, on the eve of Yom Ha’atzmaut, IRAC won a major case in the
Jerusalem District Court. We put an end to the Jerusalem
municipality’s practice of providing exclusive additional funds to
religious schools controlled by ultra-Orthodox political parties.
The Jerusalem municipality’s allocation of millions and millions of
shekels to Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) schools – at the expense of all other
Jerusalem schools, especially when there are so many in dire need of
financial support – was yet another example of how the Haredim use
political power to secure government resources and win disproportionate
benefits for their own communities.
We argued that such funding was undeniably discriminatory, violated the
principle of equality, and was designed to appease a narrow interest
group. The Jerusalem municipality disregarded the legitimate needs
of hundreds of schools around the city, and instead gave preference to two
religious political parties, Shas and United Torah Judaism, who are
influential both within the Jerusalem city council and the national
government coalition.
The misuse of city funds was also – and we argued as such – a blatantly
illegal move, so much so that the city council’s own legal advisor refused
to represent the case; instead, Mayor Nir Barkat’s council had to hire a
private lawyer.
As Tali Aviv, a lawyer on IRAC’s excellent legal team, put it, “while
other schools suffer from under-funding, the Haredi schools get
extra. And in a city like Jerusalem, where there is so much
diversity, it’s even worse for the city council to favor only one kind of
school – there’s no pluralism in that.”
IRAC’s victory is an important one. It will narrow the gap
between privileged and underprivileged schools; other municipalities
across Israel will use the Jerusalem District Court’s decision for
guidance with similar cases of their own – and it is now more difficult
for other authorities to set discriminatory criteria that favor
ultra-Orthodox schools.
L’Shalom,
Anat Hoffman
P.S. We’ve extended the deadline for our 2010-2011 Fellowship until May
2nd, 2010. Click here for more details.
P.P.S. I’ve been in Chicago since Thursday, where I spoke at a national
ARZA gathering. Thank you to all ARZA members – if you’re not a
member of ARZA, you should be. I’ll be speaking in Chicago-area
congregations all this week, and hope to get a chance to meet with all of
you who can make it.
Court
Rejects Jerusalem Bid to Up Funding for Haredi Schools
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz, April 23rd, 2010
The Jerusalem District Court yesterday invalidated the Jerusalem
municipality's decision to increase fu read more...
 Court:
Jerusalem Municipality Favors Haredi Schools
By Ronen Medzini, YNet News, April 19th, 2010
An administrative court determined on Monday that the Jerusalem
Municipality favors local ultra-Or
 Ayalon,
Rotem to Reassure U.S. Critics of Conversion Bill
By Jonah Mandel, The Jerusalem Post, April 23rd, 2010
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and MK David Rotem, both of Israel
Beiteinu, will be
 Ramat Beit
Shemesh Residents Jostle over Control of Mikva
By Ruth Eglash, The Jerusalem Post, April 25th, 2010
Friction between two religious communities in Ramat Beit Shemesh has
surfaced once again, t
 Haredim
Demonstrate, Try to Burn Flags in Beit Shemesh
By Yoav Zitun, YNet News, April 20th, 2010
While the State of Israel celebrates 62 years of independence, hundreds
of Haredi demonstrators took
 Percent of
Non-Working Haredi Men Tripled in Space of 30 Years
By Haim Bior, Haaretz, April 14th, 2010
The percentage of ultra-Orthodox men not working has more than tripled
over the past 30 years. In 2008, |
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Statistics
Bureau: 75% of Israeli citizens are Jewish
By Haaretz Service, Haaretz, April 18th, 2010
On Israel's 62nd Independence Day, the number of Israeli citizens in
the country stands at more th
Im Tirtzu
Alters Memorial Prayer in Fresh Attack on Israeli Left
By Chaim Levinson, Haaretz, April 18th, 2010
Im Tirzu, which labels itself as a centrist party that aims to
strengthen Zionism in Israel, has di
Time to
Wake Up
By Yizhar Hess, The Jerusalem Post, April 22nd, 2010
Anyone who used public transportation to get to the Western Wall during
Pessah was confront
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