Retired Lawyer Sues Israeli Airline After Being Asked To Change Seat

Renee Rabinowitz, a 81 years old Israel Woman has taken legal action against the Israeli national airline, El Al, on the grounds of discrimination, after she was forced to change seat, in buisness class, at the request of a man, an ultra-orthodox Jew who was unwilling to sit next to a woman as they were flying from New-York to Tel-Aviv on December 2nd.

Rabinowitz, a devout Jew herself, told The Guardian: ‘The man had no other reason to complain than my gender – and that’s unlawful discrimination.
‘It’s no different than if a person of another religion had said: ‘I don’t want to sit next to a Jew.’ And I don’t believe El Al would move a person in those circumstance.’

The retired lawyer was flying from Tel Aviv to New York to see family when she was moved to another seat, after a middle aged man had spoken to a flight attendant.

She told the Guardian: ‘I asked the flight attendant point blank if the man sitting next to me had asked me to be moved, and unabashedly he said yes.
‘I then went back to the man and said: “I’m an 81-year-old woman, what’s your problem?”
‘He started to tell me it was forbidden by the Torah.
‘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.’

Rabinowitz is being supported by the Israel Religious Action Centre, which opposes ultra-Orthodox efforts to segregate men and women.
El Al said it maintained ‘the highest levels of equal treatment and respect for all passengers’.

And its statement to the Guardian added: ‘Our employees in the air, on the ground, in Israel and around the globe do all possible to listen to and provide solutions to the concerns or requests from our customers whatever they might be, including seating requests on the airplane.’