Israeli police have arrested a Charedi man suspected of ordering a 22-year-old woman to the back of a bus last week.

Noa Kentman was sitting at the front of an Egged bus bound for Ashdod when two Charedi men told her to move to the back in an attempt to enforce gender segregation.

Ms Kentman told police that when refused to move, the men shouted curses at her and recited prayers. Ms Kentman’s sister called the police, who forced the bus to pull over outside Ashdod and questioned one of the men.

Yael German, a new Yesh Atid MK, said on Tuesday that the incident showed the importance of passing a law in the Knesset to make discrimination against women a crime.

“Discrimination against women began to rear its head about two years ago, when we started to see an increase in these cases. This has no place in a democracy which ensures equality for all citizens,” she said.

Ms German said such laws should also apply to sexual or race discrimination, and that she hoped her party could leverage gender discrimination issues in order to tackle other forms of prejudice.