A religious woman is protesting what she has dubbed 'secular coercion' at an Israeli spa which allegedly barred her over her modest swimwear.
Tehilla Drori says she wanted to use the Jacuzzi at the Yamit Spa 2000, but was kicked out in disgrace instead because she was wearing a modest swimsuit.
In a post published by Drori on Facebook, she described the event as "humiliating, disgraceful, divisive and just plain wrong and infuriating."
"As part of a birthday celebration, my husband and I decided to go to a spa and get massages," Drori wrote on Facebook. "After making inquiries, we went to the Yamit Spa 2000, which is located inside a water park. We bought tickets and we got massages. Afterward, we went to the spa section to use the Jacuzzi and sauna which we paid for when we purchased our tickets."
"When I tried to enter the Jacuzzi, a security guard who was standing at the entrance approached me and said I couldn't go in. I looked at him strangely and asked why. He told me because of what I'm wearing. Apparently, entrance to the Jacuzzi is only allowed in a bathing suit. I have to mention that my bathing suit is made out of Lycra, which I bought for hundreds of shekels in order to meet all the standards required for bathing suits."
"I explained to the security guard that I wasn't wearing a regular shirt and skirt but a bathing suit in every respect, and he was welcome to feel it to make sure. The answer was unequivocal - forbidden. I asked him where the manager was because I wasn't going to accept this. After wasting forty minutes of my birthday outing going from one person to another, I finally spoke with Gil the manager. I showed him my bathing suit and demanded that I be able to enter the Jacuzzi. His answer was: 'only with a regular bathing suit like it's written on the sign.'"
"I responded that it says by the entrance 'only in a bathing suit' and I'm wearing a bathing suit. He answered, 'only these type of bathing suits.' I understood that there was no one to talk to. I explained to Mr. Gil that it wasn't possible that he, as the owner, chooses to exclude an entire community of religious (and Arab) people! It can't be that if I don't conform to a particular dress code which contradicts my views and principles, I'm excluded from the rest of society."
Drori made one last effort to change the manager's mind. "I told him that this story wasn't going to pass quietly and I intend to publish it wherever possible so that people like me who come here won't be surprised." His answer was even more delusional: 'You're invited to look at reports they already had on us in the past on Channel 10 about this topic - you're wasting your time.'"
Drori wants to fight this "secular coercion" as she put it. "I appeal to you, to the religious, secular and Arab communities and everyone in the state of Israel. We're in 2019. How can this still be happening in our country? Recently there's been many headlines about 'religious coercion' and here is 'secular coercion.'"
The CEO of Yamit 2000 responded: "According to the order of the Ministry of Health, entrance to the spa is allowed only in a bathing suit. We don't do any checking or feeling [of modest bathing suits to ensure the material is Lycra]."