Dress code sparks Knesset protest

occupied jerusalem — Skirtwearing Israeli parliament staffers protested dress code rules at the building’s entrance on Wednesday after several of their colleagues were denied entry because their dresses were deemed too short.

Staffers say security at the Knesset, or parliament, in recent days began strictly enforcing rules on the length of skirts, with no reason given for why.

At one point on Wednesday morning, around 50 staffers and some parliament members gathered at the entrance to parliament in support of those refused entry, participants said. Many of them wore skirts above the knee with stockings underneath on a cold and rainy day in occupied Jerusalem.

Around 10 to 15 women were denied entry for dress code reasons on Wednesday.

“I’ve worn this same dress many times,” said Kesem Rozenblat, 30, an adviser to parliament member Ilan Gilon who was refused entry. “Maybe they’re scared of women’s legs, I don’t know,” she said. She said security officers did not measure her skirt, but a woman guard “simply looked me up and down and said it wasn’t appropriate”.

The issue emerged on Sunday when an aide to parliament member Merav Michaeli of the opposition Zionist Union was denied entry due to her skirt length.

Photos showed the aide, Shaked Hasson, wearing a blue dress that stopped above her knees, with stockings underneath.

Speaking to Israeli radio, Michaeli called the sudden strict enforcement an “attempt to impose fundamentalist standards”, referring to dress rules followed by ultra-Orthodox Jewish women. —

Skirts deemed inappropriate