Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman is poised to introduce this summer new gender-segregated bathing tunes in some natural springs in Israel as part of a pilot program that is to be run separate outside the official operating hours for those sites, Israel Hayom has learned. 

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The pilot program will initially include only two government-run attractions run by the Israeli authorities: one in the Ein Tsukim Nature Reserve near the Dead Sea, and the other in Gan Hashlosha National Park (Shane) near Beit Shean. 

Video: Concern over the Dead Sea's receding water levels / Noam Badin

The program, which seeks to touch on a sensitive issue as more religious circle call for segregated bathing hours while liberal groups see this as a slipper slope toward the sidelining of women, will not impact the existing arraignment for mixed-gender bathers as it will take place only between 6 pm to 9 pm and later. Israeli natural springs are usually closed for bathers by 5 p.m.

Earlier this year, United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni introduced draft legislation that calls for having at least 15% of operating times allotted for gender-segregated bathing. Silman's pilot program appears to cater to the Gafni's Haredi constituency as well as other conservative Israelis. 

A previous attempt to introduce such a scheme at Ein Tsukim was struck down by the Justice Ministry for being discriminatory. 

Silman told Israel Hayom that "Israel's natural resources belong to everyone, and therefore upon assuming office I put an emphasis on finding creative solutions to make public spaces and parks accessible to all publics, including the Haredi populations." 

She added, "The pilot program will only run outside the official operating hours and will give more sectors the chance to enjoy the natural springs that have stayed away until now because of their lifestyle – but without impacting the members of the general public who bathe there during normal hours."

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A day after Yamina MK Idit Silman broke ranks with the government and announced that she was resigning as coalition chairwoman, the renegade lawmaker told Times of Israel that she did this purely on principle and not because of a quid pro quo.

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"I woke up at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning, spoke with only one person on this matter – my good friend who doesn't deal with politics – and then I told myself, 'This is the moment,'" she told the Israeli news outlet. "I spoke with MK Yariv Levin (from Likud) and that's it, my actions were mine alone, and I surprised everyone, including [opposition leader] Benjamin Netanyahu, everyone was shocked but I was at peace with myself,." 

Silman dismissed reports that offers of future portfolios in a Likud-led government sealed the deal for her defection. "I got zero promises for the future; there are no agreements," she said. "In fact, I have been offered many things so that I stay [in the coalition], including to replace Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, but I will not be tempted." 

She also played down the recent spat she had with Horowitz over the issue of Passover observance in hospitals, saying this was not the reason she left the coalition. "It's the other things that are important. Passover was just the final blow; the whole range of things that were threatening to erode the Jewish character of the state was what mattered to us, this is truly what got to me, and I saw it time and again," she lamented, adding that she was also dismayed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett referring to Judea and Samaria as the West Bank. 

She denied outright the reports that Netanyahu had promised her a spot on the Likud candidate list for the next Knesset election. "There is no such deal, although the Likud has offered me everything. There is no opportunism on my part, I had a great job (as coalition chairwoman)."

Silman's decision means that the current Bennett-led government no longer controls the Knesset, making it vritually impossible to pass any meaningful legislation. If the opposition gets one more defector it will outnumber the coalition and could theoretically call an early election, although it is unclear if all of its factions would support such a measure, especially the Joint Arab List, which does not share the ideological views of the Right.

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Yamina MK and Coalition Chairwoman Idit Silman came under fire on Sunday after she refused to provide details on her claim that she was the target of a politically motivated attack.

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Over the weekend she claimed that several weeks ago she was physically attacked at a gas station in Modi'in over her party's unseating of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the forming of a Left-Right coalition. She even went so far as to say that the perpetrator "slammed me against my car."
Late Saturday and early Sunday, members of the opposition and a growing number of people online asked her to elaborate on it but she could not come up with any specific detail. Many also considered it odd that she did not report this alleged incident to the Knesset Guard, which is tasked with the protection of Israeli lawmakers. They also noted that every gas station in Modi'in has security cameras that should have footage of any unlawful activity.

Members of the opposition tried to take this a step further and issued a formal request to the police to have this alleged incident investigated. Moshe Arbel, one of the lawmakers from the opposition who asked for an investigation, claimed that these were "serious allegations claiming that an MK was physically attacked; inflicting physical harm is a crossing of a red line." The opposition's efforts, while ostensibly designed to help protect her, could in fact be aimed at embarrassing her but forcing her to retract the allegations.

Responding to the criticism, Silman published a lengthy post on Facebook saying that "I am not under investigation; those who are constantly inciting against me are." She further said that "all those on Twitter who were quick to attack me have shown their own true colors."

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