Israeli taxi-hailing app sued for allowing riders to avoid Arab drivers

An taxi-hailing app is being sued for allegedly providing an option for Israeli customers to avoid Arab drivers.

Gett, which operates across the US, Europe and Canada, is being sued by a Jerusalem human rights group over its controversial 'Mehadrin' service, which refers to the most stringent level of Kosher supervision.

The service allows riders to choose a taxi which does not operate on the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, effectively excluding Jerusalem's non-Jewish taxi drivers.

The class action suite filed against Gett, its founder, David Weiser, and head of Gett Israel, Mark Oun, seeks 150m shekels (around $43,900,000) in damages for alleged discrimination against non-Jewish taxi drivers and Jerusalem's Arab population.

“They give it a religious title. But, in fact, this is a proxy for a racist service that provides taxis with Jewish drivers,” Asaf Pink, a lawyer working on the case, was quoted by The Guardian as saying. “Of course, they can’t just say ‘we don’t want Arabs’.”

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Prior to the court action, Pink and the Israel Religious Action Centre commissioned an investigation into Gett which allegedly proved that the firm endorsed discriminatory practices.