A 13-year-old girl wearing shorts and a sleeveless top says she was barred from boarding a bus in northern Israel as the driver deemed her outfit “sexual harassment".
Tamara Lahav was waiting for the number 9 bus, which heads from Or Akiva to Binyamina-Givat Ada, on Friday when the incident happened.
On the hot day, Haaretz reports that as soon as the driver opened the door he asked Lahav if she had “something to cover up with".
Lahav said she was surprised by the question, but said no she had nothing else to put on.
The driver then closed the door and drove off.
The teenager, who lives in Kibbutz Maabarot, said the bus driver told her that the way she was dressed constituted "sexual harassment."
Lahav, who planned to go to the mall in Binyamina, told Haaretz she was in shock and didn’t really understand what happened.
She continued: "After that, I regretted that I didn’t confront the driver. I don’t think that boys would have received the same treatment.”
Yael Lahav, Tamara's mother, filed a complaint against the driver with the national authority for public transportation.
She called the driver’s actions a violation of basic rights that everyone and "above all, a violation of human dignity".
She said they are raising Tamara to be part of an equal society and she believes the driver wouldn't have commented on how a man or boy dresses, "so there is no reason that he should do so for a woman or girl".
A Transportation Ministry official told Haaretz that drivers are not allowed to refuse transportation to passengers because of the way they are dressed.
The bus operator, Kavim, has said it will investigate the incident and that disciplinary action will be taken against the driver if they find that he infringed the firm’s policies.
A similar incident happened in October 2018 when Mor Simchi, then 18, was denied the right to board an Egged Ta’avura bus because she was wearing shorts, which the driver said looked like underwear.
In October 2021, the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court awarded 150,000 shekels in compensation to Simchi.
The judge ruled that the driver “discriminated against her because of her beliefs and liberal lifestyle, as evidenced by her dress".
Judge Kohava Levy added that the refusal constituted “gross contempt and humiliation”.
Levy said that “inappropriate clothing” isn’t grounds for refusing to let someone board a bus and that the driver was guilty of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
One of the legal definitions of sexual harassment is “degrading or humiliating treatment of any person with regard to his gender or sexual orientation”.
