Two Israeli companies generated public protest this week over the alleged violation of workers' and customers' rights under ultra-Orthodox pressure. In fact, it took just a day or two for each of these companies to backtrack in response to public outcry.
The first company is Tempo, the owner of Barkan wines. Its CEO, Jack Bar, renounced a previous decision to remove workers of Ethiopian descent from the vineyard's production line out of concern that they are not Jewish. The story was exposed in a June 25 report on the Kan public broadcasting corporation about a decision to transfer workers of Ethiopian background from the wine production line to other roles. The report revealed that the decision stemmed from a demand of kashrut inspectors from Eda Haredit, a private kashrut certification organization considered stringent. The inspectors cast doubt on the Jewishness of one of the Ethiopian workers, and management decided to transfer all workers of this background to other roles at the winery. (Wine that comes in contact with non-Jews is considered non-kosher.)
The report caused a huge uproar, including a social media campaign to boycott the winery. Even Israel's Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef denounced Eda Haredit and called its demand "pure racism." The day after the broadcast, Barkan management announced, "Since all our employers are equally dear to us — the director of the company has immediately instructed to not remove any workers from their positions."
The second company is the Israeli airline carrier El Al. The airline's June 22 flight from New York was delayed because of a demand from an ultra-Orthodox man to move two women who were seated next to him. The women were moved to other seats, but a social media post of the incident caused a public uproar, which led the CEO of the technology company NICE to announce that he is canceling the company's flights with El Al. "At NICE we don't do business with companies that discriminate against race, gender or religion. NICE will not fly @EL AL Israel Airlines until they change their practice and actions discriminating women."
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