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The move was followed by Israeli women's groups expressing doubt that amending the clause alone would immediately remove the obstacles females face in joining the country's ultra-orthodox party.In other words,Agudath Israel will amend its charter, but not follow it. Still, the tide may be turning in a broader social sense.
The court ruled that the party's charter should be amended within 21 days in order to remove all women-related restrictions, saying that "there will not be any rules preventing acceptance of a woman as a party member" and that "from a legal standpoint the appeal process has been fulfilled".
Under the ruling, if the party regulations aren't amended and a woman is blocked from joining the party, she may file a petition to the High Court.
Haaretz cited an unnamed Agudat Yisrael member as saying that the party will "respect the High Court's instructions to change the party's constitution because it's a matter of semantics that has no practical meaning".
"Even the group of women who speak about a lack of women's representation in the party know that this won't change in the decades to come, and still they know that Agudat Yisrael is a party that will see to the needs of all Haredi Jews," he said.
Women's groups based in Israel claimed, for their part, that amending the clause alone would not completely remove the obstacles females face in joining the party.
Comment: This article was written on Friday, the protests are due to commence, today, Saturday, and so one wonders what impact the alleged "gas leak" related explosion in Paris earlier on today will have on the planned protests: Suspected 'gas leak' triggers explosion in central Paris, reports of injuries
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