Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest school ruling

JERUSALEM – Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested Thursday against a Supreme Court decision to jail parents who have refused to comply with their order to desegregate a religious girls school.

Dressed in black hats and carrying posters denouncing the court as “fascists,” the peaceful protesters continued Thursday afternoon until about 42 parents turned themselves into police custody to begin serving two-week sentences for contempt of court.

The protests, which organizers vowed will continue in the coming days, marked the latest fissure in relations between Israel’s religious and secular communities.

The case also has underscored the lingering tensions and prejudices within Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, particularly between Ashkenazi and Sephardic groups.

The case revolves around the Beit Yakov girls school, located in the ultra-Orthodox West Bank settlement of Immanuel. The state-funded independent school enrolls all students, but maintains separate studies that largely keep Ashkenazi students, of European descent, apart from Sephardic, mostly of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean background.

Complaints about discrimination committed by devoutly religious Ashkenazi circles are not new. Shas, a Sephardic political movement, was formed in the 1980s largely as a response to perceived bias and marginalization of Sephardic Jews.

But parents of the Ashkenazi girls insist the separation at their elementary school is based on religion, not skin color, saying Sephardic customs are generally less stringent in terms of dress and conduct, such as watching television or using the Internet. Many Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox reject outside culture and don’t have televisions in their homes.

In defending the separation policy, Ashkenazi leaders denied ethnicity played a role in the school’s decision.

Not so, according to Yonatan Danino, spokesman for the nonprofit organization that petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the policy.

“Sephardic Jewry is no less pious and the girls of these families suffered clear discrimination,” he said.

The court agreed, ruling last year that the practice was based on discrimination. Comparing the case to desegregation of the American South in the 1950s, the court ordered the separation at the school to end.

But parents to date have refused to comply, withholding their daughters from school and saying their religious convictions trump the court order. The dispute culminated in a courtroom standoff this week, during which justices ordered about 86 parents to either abide by its order or go to jail.