Hair Cover and a Gun: Netanyahu’s Religious Female Bodyguard
A religious female security guard for the Prime Minister’s Office made news earlier this week, after she was spotted securing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Ethiopian Premier Abiy Ahmed in Jerusalem.
The young woman is the first religious woman to serve as a guard in the Prime Minister’s Office while wearing a hair covering – which are traditionally worn by married religious Jewish women.
Yedioth Aharonth’s Itamar Eichner reported that the female guard was positioned between the exit of the Prime Minister’s Office and the tent erected for the event featuring Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ahmed.
The guard, who is in her 20s, was hired by the security department of the Prime Minister’s Office. And while she is not the first religious woman to be hired for a security position by the PMO, she is the first to wear a head covering on the job.
The Prime Minister’s Office has hired more haredi employees in recent years, after Israel’s controversial affirmative action law was extended to include new immigrants and haredi Jews.
