Israel’s Supreme Court has overturned the prison sentences for many of the mothers who defied a court order to return their daughters to an integrated Ashkenazi-Sephardi school.
The justices decided June 22 to exempt 13 of the mothers from prison and to delay the sentences of nine others until their husbands complete their two-week prison sentences that began June 17.
One of the mothers suffered a miscarriage on June 21. Ynet quoted hospital staff in reporting that the miscarriage could have been due to emotional stress over the possibility of prison.
The court last week ruled on a situation involving a school in the West Bank settlement of Emanuel. Mostly Ashkenazi haredi Orthodox parents decided not to allow their daughters to attend the school with other Orthodox students, who do not adhere to the same stringent tenets of the Slonim Chassidic sect.
After issuing various threats and fines, the court finally ruled that some parents would have to go to prison. The court said the parents’ reason for segregating their daughters is racial; the parents say it is religious.
Thirty-five fathers entered a Jerusalem prison last week, and two other fathers were given until July 5 to begin their sentences. Demonstrations against the court’s actions in Jerusalem and Bnai Brak swelled to more than 100,000 people last week. — jta