‘An Israeli taxi-hailing app, offering its Jewish customers the option which guarantees that they will not be picked up by an Arab cab driver, is being sued by human rights lawyers. Gett, a global firm with users in most major cities, is facing a pay-out of $47 million in damages for providing a function that discriminates against non-Jews.
In the class-action lawsuit filed this week, Gett’s additional function-which is a unique service known as “Mehadrin” offered to religiously observant Jews-was described by the lawyer working on the case, Asaf Pink, as “a racist service that provides taxis with Jewish drivers.” Pink and local rights group, the Israel Religious Action Centre, submitted the case following a private investigation that proved the service was tailored to meet the specific needs of Jewish passengers despite it being discriminatory.
In the 2018 investigation, Gett’s Jerusalem representative, Herzl Moshe, allegedly said he would never sign an Arab driver to the special service offered to Jews, even if they agreed to Gett’s terms. “Let me tell you a secret,” he said in recorded comments. “Gett Mehadrin is not for religious [Jews]. It is for people who don’t want an Arab driver. When my daughter wants to travel, I order her a Gett Mehadrin. She doesn’t care if the driver is religious or not because what she wants is a Jewish driver.”
The firm commissioned to carry out the private investigation also sent an Arab man to ask if he could join the service, but he was refused. Moshe is reporting saying: “I have 1,500 Arab drivers, and not even one of them works for Mehadrin; nor will they.”’
Read more: Only in apartheid Israel can an app offer option not to be picked up by Arab cab drivers
