AG Weinstein Against Bill for Working Women in Area C

The measure, which was approved by the Ministerial Legislative Committee, seeks to provide women employed by Israeli-owned businesses, government offices and non-profits in Area C with the same labor law rights enjoyed by their counterparts within the Green Line.

Opponents of the proposal, authored by MK Orit Struck (Jewish Home), claim that it represents an attempt at creeping annexation of Yehudah and Shomron, taking it over piecemeal through separate legislative measures rather than through a sweeping national decision.

Weinstein, along with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Science, Technology and Space Minister Yaakov Perry (Yesh Atid) argue that the matter would be better handled via a military order, such as has been done in the case of other labor issues such as minimum wage.

Perry accused Struck of “harming Israel’s international standing by attempting to annex Area C under the guise of helping working Israeli and Palestinian women.”

Struck rejected such claims.

“It’s absurd to imagine that laws protecting the rights of working women are anything but personal. Just as no one thinks that laws about paying taxes imply annexation, so too no one should think that about this law,” she said.

Struck was inspired to initiate the bill after she was approached by a woman from Yehudah and Shomron who, after she was fired, discovered that she lacked the same protections afforded other Israeli women.

This article appeared in print on page 6 of the September 2nd, 2013 edition of Hamodia.