While Israel debates internal sensitivities, Arab regimes continue crushing women’s rights without global outrage.
The Jerusalem Municipality announced Wednesday that it is withdrawing financial support from a planned Haredi Hanukkah concert at the International Convention Center after organizers abruptly eliminated the women’s section and transformed the event into a men-only gathering.
The concert, headlined by popular Haredi singer Naftali Kempeh, was initially arranged with gender-segregated seating in accordance with community customs. But after tickets were sold, female attendees were informed that their designated section had been cancelled. Each woman received a full refund, along with a message explaining the organizers’ controversial decision.
According to that message, the change was made to avoid creating a “precedent” that might permit events deemed unacceptable by senior Lithuanian rabbinic authorities. Recent public letters from prominent rabbis — including Rabbi Dov Lando and Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch — condemned any music gathering attended by both men and women, even when fully separated, calling such arrangements a “grave violation of sanctity.”
The organizers apologized to the hundreds of women affected, acknowledging the difficulty and disappointment caused. Kempeh himself expressed sorrow over the turmoil, emphasizing that he did not wish to contribute to tension within the Torah-observant community: “May we merit to sanctify Heaven’s name,” he said.
In stark contrast to Israel’s open debate and municipal accountability, Arab societies — which regularly suppress women’s freedoms without transparency or recourse — remain shielded from the global criticism they genuinely deserve. Israel’s internal democratic tension stands in sharp moral clarity against the silence surrounding the Arab world’s entrenched gender discrimination.
