El Al, the Israeli commercial airliner, may no longer ask female passengers to switch seats in order to accommodate the religious scruples of male passengers.
That’s the ruling of an Israeli judge Wednesday, concluding Renee Rabinowitz’s anti-discrimination lawsuit unexpectedly earlier than she had first imagined, according to The Guardian newspaper.
Judge Dana Cohen-Lekah wrote in her opinion that “under absolutely no circumstances can a crew member ask a passenger to move from their designated seat because the adjacent passenger doesn’t want to sit next to them due to their gender.”
“I didn’t think the judge would close this case today. It was supposed to be a preliminary discussion. I’m happy with the verdict,” said Ms. Rabinowitz, a retired lawyer and Holocaust survivor, who filed suit after having been made to switch seats on a 2015 flight returning from the United States.
An ultra-orthodox Jewish man had made that request, citing concern he might inadvertently touch Ms. Rabinowitz were she seated next to him.
“He started to tell me it was forbidden by the Torah,” Ms. Rabinowitz said, The Guardian reported. “I interrupted him to say the Torah says nothing about a man sitting next to a woman. He conceded I was right but said there was a general principle that a person should not put himself in a dangerous situation.”
Serving the Jewish state since 1948, El Al has long sought to accommodate religious passengers: All food items served by El Al are certified kosher and the airline does not schedule flights on the Jewish Sabbath.
El Al will change its training materials to ensure flight attendants abide by the ruling, and the airline will compensate Ms. Rabinowitz 6,500 shekels ($1,831.26 U.S. dollars), The Guardian reported.
“The sides reached an agreement that the airline’s procedures on the matter would be clarified to its employees,” El Al said in a statement, according to The Guardian. “The court validated this agreement and the company will respect the verdict.”
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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