Israeli parliament deploys fashion police

updated 3:49 p.m. ET Oct. 8, 2007

JERUSALEM - Even in a country known for its casual dress, informality has its limits.

Israel’s parliament unleashed the fashion police ahead of the opening of its annual winter session Monday, saying visitors wearing “unbecoming attire” would be barred from entering.

The order appeared to be aimed specifically at the local media and parliamentary staffers. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office issued a similar dress code after a female journalist arrived at a news conference in a skin-baring top.

Shelly Yachimovich, a lawmaker, told Army Radio that one of her male staffers was barred from entering the Knesset early Monday because he was wearing jeans.

“Entrance to the Knesset will be barred to anyone wearing unbecoming attire, such as sleeveless T-shirts, short pants, jeans and, for women, short T-shirts that expose the midriff,” Avi Balashnikov, director general of the parliament, or Knesset, said in a statement.

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